Next to Las Vegas, Atlantic City is the most famous and popular gambling destination in the United States of America. The dazzling metropolis on the south coast of the US state of New Jersey has been attracting visitors to its magnificent casinos and resorts for decades.
However, the city and its once numerous gambling temples have repeatedly experienced financial crises over the past 20 years. After five casinos closed their doors forever in 2014, only nine casinos remain in Atlantic City today. Quite the contrary, non GamStop casinos have very impressive growth rates and win more players on a regular basis.
We will tell you what makes them special and which ones you should definitely visit when visiting Atlantic City.
1st Place: Ocean Resort Casino
Located directly on Atlantic City’s iconic Boardwalk, the Ocean Resort Casino is the city’s tallest building at 216 meters. The casino is very young compared to the other casinos in the city and only opened in 2012 under the name Revel Casino Hotel. However, like some other casinos, it went bankrupt in 2014.
Four years later it would reopen under new ownership and a new name as the Ocean Resort Casino.
The name is no coincidence. The casino resort covers more than 8,000 square meters of beachfront space and offers visitors breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean. If you want to combine your visit to the casino with a luxury holiday, you can move into one of the 1,399 rooms in the casino hotel.
The casino itself offers 12,820 square meters of gaming space with hundreds of slot machines and 125 table games. Sports betting fans also get their money’s worth thanks to a partnership with the world-renowned bookmaker William Hill.
The hallmark of the casino is the 40-ton sphere on the roof of the building, which lights up the night sky with 350,000 LED lights.
2nd Place: Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa
A visit to the famous Borgata Casino is undoubtedly no less exciting. The gaming temple is characterized above all by its gigantic range of games. A total of 4,100 slot machines and 200 gaming tables for Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat, Pai Gow and Sic Bo await visitors.
However, the Borgata is particularly popular with poker players. The casino offers the largest poker room in all of Atlantic City and is therefore the venue for high-stake tournaments of the World Poker Tour (WPT).
If you want to spend the night in the Casino Hotel, you can choose from a total of 2,000 rooms. The “simple” category includes 1,600 standard rooms with almost 43 square meters. For the remaining 400 rooms, or rather luxury suites, guests naturally have to dig deeper into their pockets.
3rd Place: Hard Rock Atlantic City
The Hard Rock brand is known all over the world and, in addition to the famous cafes, includes 14 casinos in the United States, Canada and the Dominican Republic. While Hard Rock is currently making plans to build a casino in Las Vegas, Atlantic City has had one since 2018.
However, the building itself is much older and was formerly owned by US President Donald Trump. Where the iconic hard rock guitar now towers in the sky, the golden colors of the Trump Taj Mahal shone from 1990 to 2016.
The Hard Rock Casino in Atlantic City now offers almost 2,200 slot machines, 120 table games and recently its own betting shop. The casino is also known for its exclusive shows and parties, which attract visitors night after night.
Like the Borgata, the Hard Rock has a total of 2,000 hotel rooms.
4th Place: Caesar’s
Caesars Casino is the second oldest surviving casino in Atlantic City and, unlike some other gambling temples in the city, has so far successfully mastered all crises. The casino first opened its doors in 1979 and has always been known for its huge range of games.
Visitors can play a total of 1,883 slot machines and 129 gaming tables on the almost 13,500 square meter gaming area. The casino also offers gamblers three VIP rooms and its own betting shop.
With almost 1,100 rooms, the hotel belonging to the casino is a bit smaller than its competitors, but by no means less luxurious and relaxing.
Caesars Casino is just one of three casinos in Atlantic City operated by US gaming giant Caesars Entertainment. The group also owns Harrah’s Resort and Tropicana Casino.
5th Place: Golden Nuggets
The Golden Nugget Casino has also held up well over the past few decades, but has changed hands more often. The casino originally opened in 1985 as “Trump’s Castle”. At the time, Donald Trump sensed the big gambling business in Atlantic City.
In 1997, the casino was renamed Trump Marina because of its waterfront location.
In 2011, however, the entertainment group Landry’s Inc bought the casino and renamed it the Golden Nugget. Today the casino offers more than 1,300 slot machines, 80 table games and a poker room with as many as nine tables on a gaming area of 7,432 square meters.
The casino is also popular for its large betting shop, which can accommodate 100 people to bet on current sporting events. Overnight accommodation is offered in the 724 hotel rooms overlooking the iconic harbor and the sea.
The Other Four Casinos Are Also Worth Seeing!
The remaining four casinos are also without a doubt worth checking out. For the sake of completeness, we present them in no particular order.
As previously mentioned, two of them, Harrah’s and Tropicana, are also owned by Caesars Entertainment. Harrah’s offers gamblers 1,860 slot machines and dozens of table games for Roulette, Blackjack, Pai Gow, Baccarat and Poker.
The Tropicana, on the other hand, has 2,400 slot machines and various tables for blackjack, roulette, baccarat, craps and Co. The casino also has a poker room with a total of 18 tables.
Another famous casino in Atlantic City is the Resorts Casino Hotel. The casino opened in 1978, making it the city’s oldest existing casino. Gaming facilities include 1,500 slot machines, 70 table games and a massive betting shop powered by DraftKings.
Bally’s Atlantic City is also one of the oldest casinos in the city. The range of games includes almost 1,400 slot machines and 93 table games as well as a FanDuel betting shop.