Resorts Atlantic City

Resorts Hotel and Casino Atlantic City is a hotel, casino, and spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey owned by Colony Capital, LLC and is managed through its gaming subsidiary Colony RIH Holdings, Inc. merger, Caesars Entertainment sold the . Resorts was the first casino hotel in Atlantic City, becoming the first legal casino in the eastern part of the United States, when it opened on May 26, 1978. Resorts has a 27-story hotel tower called the “Redezvous” with the largest standard guest rooms of all the casinos in Atlantic City. In 2005, before the completion of the Harrah’s Entertainment and Caesars EntertainmentAtlantic City Hilton to the Colony Capital, making Resorts and Hilton sister properties.

Early History

Resorts International, which was formed in March of 1968, first became interested in developing a resort in Atlantic City after the company learned of a planned fourth attempt to bring casino gambling to New Jersey by limiting it to Atlantic City. The company heavily contributed to the November 1976 gaming referendum which successfully passed that year. While campaigning for the gaming initiative, Resorts also began planning for a future Atlantic City casino by securing an option for 55 acres of land on the Atlantic City Boardwalk from the city’s Housing and Re-Development Authority as well as paying $2.5 million to purchase the historic Chalfonte-Haddon Hall Hotel.

Resorts plans included reducing the Chalfonte-Haddon Hall from its current 1,000 rooms at the time to a 566 room resort with casino, restaurant, and shopping space. The company’s logic in this decision was that renovating an existing property on the boardwalk would give the company an advantage by allowing the resort to be open at least a year before its competition as well as be less expensive to construct. However, Resort’s plans went against the state’s wishes for casino development in Atlantic City, since state leaders wanted companies to build new resorts there and not conduct “patch and paint” jobs on existing properties. However, with Resorts Atlantic City being the first casino project developed in New Jersey, the company was able to avoid any state criticism. This would not be the case with many of the later resorts built on the Boardwalk.

On May 26, 1978 Resorts Atlantic City opened its doors at 10:00AM that morning. Initial gaming laws in New Jersey only allowed casinos to operate for 18 hours during the week and 20 hours during the weekends. This situation produced massive lines outside of Resorts and people waited hours to get inside after Governor Brendan Byrne cut the ceremonial opening ribbon. The situation later calmed and Resorts Atlantic City emerged as a profitable and powerful destination on the Boardwalk.