On May 26, 1978, the Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, officially opened its doors. The Resorts Casino Hotel is regarded as the first legal casino outside of Nevada in addition to being the first casino hotel in Atlantic City.
Despite the fact that the Resorts Casino Hotel was established in 1978, the structure in which it is housed is much older. Thanks to the success of Resorts Casino, the industry of New Jersey is now filled with excellent casinos, NJ live casino options, as well as many other great options for gaming.
Let’s go into the history of the Resorts Casino Hotel to discover the tale behind the establishment and the location where it was built.
The Chalfonte Hotel
The Chalfonte House was built in 1868 and is now known as Resorts Casino Hotel. It was initially run by Elisha and Elizabeth Roberts, The two paid John DaCosta $6,500 for the plot of property, which is situated at North Carolina Avenue and Pacific Avenue.
After purchasing the property, Elisha and Elizabeth Roberts began building the hotel throughout the winter. Records show that they spent $21,000 on building supplies and labor for the hotel.
The Chalfonte-Haddon Hall
Just one year after the Chalfonte House debuted, proprietors Samual and Susanna Hunt opened the Haddon House. The proprietors of the hotel sold it to Leeds & Lippincott in 1890, who rebuilt the Haddon House into a bigger establishment and gave it the new name of Haddon Hall.
The Chalfonte House was later purchased by Henry Leeds, who also built the Chalfonte Hotel there in 1900. It is regarded as Atlantic City’s first “skyscraper”.
Resorts International
In the early 1970s, Atlantic City was seen as a desirable place for business, and Resorts International, a former paint firm that changed its focus to developing hotels and casinos in 1968, got interested in owning a hotel-casino there. Resorts International opened the path for other businesses to construct their own casinos after owning the first legally held casino in Atlantic City.
Ownerships, Rebranding and Renovations
According to reports, Leeds & Lippincott spent $200,000 on the renovation of the Haddon House into Haddon Hall. In the 1920s, a new structure was added to the Haddon Hall hotel.
The Haddon Hall was renamed The Palace Hotel in May 1977, however, Resorts International changed the name of the structure once again to Resorts International Hotel on July 1 of that same year. The Chalfonte Hotel was demolished in 1980 so that Resorts International could construct a parking lot for the visitors. Until then, it had been abandoned.
Modern Days
The Resort Casino Hotel struggled in the burgeoning casino sector throughout the 2000s after Trump and Griffin both sold their stakes in Resorts International in the 1990s. Just a few weeks before Resorts Casino Hotel said they were closing, the casino was then salvaged by DGMB Casinos, a business that specializes in offline and internet casinos.
An idea for transforming the resort into a Roaring Twenties-themed destination was made public in October 2010. When Dennis Gomes assumed control of the casino in December 2010, he started the re-branding. The improvements enhanced the resort’s existing art deco decor, provided new 1920s-century outfits for personnel, and turned to using music from the era. It capitalized on the success of the HBO series Boardwalk Empire. Additionally, the casino provides vintage-inspired cocktails and performances.
The Mohegan Sun’s operator, Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment (formerly Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority), and Resorts signed a deal for the administration of the casino and hotel in August 2012.
Resorts established partnerships with DraftKings and SBTech to launch a sportsbook on-site, Resorts Casino online, and a mobile app in response to a Supreme Court decision in 2018 and the adoption of a New Jersey statute authorizing sports betting
