Atlantic City Casinos Multiple Choice Quiz | Entertainment

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. In what year was the referendum that allowed legalized gambling in Atlantic City approved by the voters? (Hint: Gerald Ford was the U.S. president at the time.)

Answer: 1976

The referendum finally passed in 1976 after it was rewritten to allow gambling only in the city of Atlantic City. An earlier referendum that would have allowed gambling anywhere in the state of New Jersey failed in 1974. The passage is often credited to the organizing skills of political strategist Sanford Weiner. Before he came to Atlantic City, he had worked on 172 campaigns and had lost only 13 of them; of the 54 referendums he had worked on, all 54 had passed.

2. In what year did the first casino open in Atlantic City? The wait in line just to get inside the door was over two hours. (Hint: Jimmy Carter was the U.S. president at the time.)

Answer: 1978

On May 26, 1978 (Memorial Day weekend) the first casino opened. Would-be gamblers were standing four-deep at the blackjack tables.

3. What was the name of the first casino in Atlantic City? It was originally built as a hotel, but was renamed after its conversion to a casino. (Hint: This boardwalk casino opened an art deco tower in 2004.)

Answer: Resorts International (now called Resorts Atlantic City)

The first casino was a refurbished, 50-year-old Atlantic City hotel formerly called the Chalfonte-Haddon Hall, renamed Resorts International. A temporary permit to open was needed since all the employees had not been investigated and cleared at that point. Resorts was sold to Donald Trump in the late 80s (who immediately sold Resorts to Merv Griffin but kept for himself and completed the unfinished Taj Mahal that Resorts had started). Subsequent owners of Resorts have been Sun International and Colony Capital LLC. During World War II, the Chalfonte-Haddon Hall served as a convalescence hospital for wounded soldiers. Resorts opened a 28-floor, 459-room art deco tower beside the boardwalk on July 3, 2004.

4. When was 24-hour gambling first allowed on a trial basis in Atlantic City casinos? Before this was enacted, the casinos had to close several hours each day. (Hint: In the U.S. presidential election the following year Gov. Bill Clinton would beat Pres. George H. W. Bush.)

Answer: 1991

Governor Florio signed the legislation that allowed 24-hour gambling in July 1991. The Casino Control Commission (CCC) implemented it on a trial basis in July 1991 and then made the change permanent in July 1992. Before that, casinos had to close at 4 am each weekday and at 6 am weekend days; they could then reopen at 10 am the next morning.

5. Who was the well-known entertainer who made the first bet? He and his wife were appearing in the casino's theater at the time of the opening. (Hint: He was still performing with the same wife 25 years later.)

Answer: Steve Lawrence

Steve Lawrence and his wife, Eydie Gorme, were appearing in Resort's Superstar Theater at the time of the opening. Lawrence bet $10 on the pass line in craps and rolled a five to establish it as the point. On his next roll of the dice he sevened out (lost). Frank Sinatra made some television commercials for another early Atlantic City casino--Steve Wynn's Golden Nugget, which opened in December 1980 (as of January 2006 it was called the Atlantic City Hilton).

6. What is the 'tunnel project'? This project was an issue of contention between Donald Trump and Steve Wynn for years. (Hint: Trump complained an early design of it was a taxpayer-funded "driveway" to his rival's casino.)

Answer: Exit off the Philadelphia-AC expressway that goes to the marina district casinos

The tunnel project (also known as the Atlantic City-Brigantine connector) is a new exit ramp off the end of the Atlantic City expressway that tunnels underneath NJ state route 30 and then connects with feeder roads to the casinos in the marina district.

It was originated as part of a deal with then-Mirage Chairman Steve Wynn, who wanted gamblers to have an easier way to get to his planned Jardin-Palais casino (the area where the Borgata now is). Donald Trump felt the original design was too favorable to his competitor. One controversy in its construction was routing it through a stable, mostly-black neighborhood rather than through nearby wetlands (this story was shown on the TV show '60 Minutes'). Groundbreaking for the tunnel project was in fall 1998.

The redesigned exit was finally completed and opened in August 2001.

7. One building in Atlantic City has had the following four identities. Which one was NOT a casino? (Hint: This building has now been torn down, but when it was standing it was located near Trump Plaza.)

Answer: Regency

Hugh Hefner could not get a license for his Playboy Hotel and Casino (opened in April 1981) and was forced to sell to the Elsinore Corporation, who renamed it the Atlantis Casino Hotel in 1984. That casino failed in 1989 and it was sold to Donald Trump. Rules at that time prohibited any one owner from owning more than three casinos, and at that time he owned the Plaza, Taj Mahal and the Castle (later renamed Marina).

He changed the building's name from Atlantis to the Regency Hotel (non-casino) and used it for free rooms for his high rollers. Later, the rules were relaxed to allow ownership of more than three casinos and he converted it to the World's Fair casino in May 1996. That casino failed three years later in October 1999 and he was given permission to tear it down.

As of November 2002, demolition of the building was complete. Although Trump announced tentative plans to build a $750 million casino resort there, the land was won at auction by real estate developer Bruce Toll in 2005.

8. The home of this elderly widow in Atlantic City was surrounded by a structural steel framework when she refused an offer in 1983 to sell her house for $1 million to Bob Guccione, publisher of Penthouse magazine. The Penthouse Hotel and Casino he was building ran into financing problems and was never completed. What was her name? (Hint: She won an eminent domain lawsuit against Donald Trump in 1988.)

Answer: Vera Coking

Donald Trump acquired the Penthouse property in 1993, demolished the rusting steel framework and planned an expansion of his Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino with a new hotel tower. He built the East tower (opened February 1996), but wanted the land of Vera Coking and two of her neighbors for a limousine staging area and more lawn.

After an unsuccessful attempt in trying to purchase her house, Trump began working with the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) to use its power of eminent domain to condemn Coking's property, take it away from her at a low price, then transfer the ownership to Trump for a fraction of the market value.

But Coking sued, and in 1998 his plans to acquire her property were thwarted when the NJ state Supreme Court ruled in favor of Coking to prevent this. Lillian Bryant gained similar fame for initially refusing to sell her home to make way for the tunnel project.

9. Donald Trump has been involved with four casinos in Atlantic City. Which one did he build from the very beginning? (Hint: It is located near Caesar's Atlantic City.)

Answer: Trump Plaza

Although Trump finished and opened the Taj Mahal in April 1990, the project had been started eight years earlier by Resorts International. Resorts was sold to Donald Trump in the late 80s (who immediately sold Resorts to Merv Griffin but kept for himself the unfinished Taj Mahal that Resorts had started). Trump Marina (formerly called Trump's Castle) was constructed by Hilton and was sold to Trump just before it opened because the Hilton Hotels Corporation was denied a gaming license. Before Trump opened the World's Fair casino, it had been the Playboy casino, Atlantis casino and Regency (non-casino) hotel. Trump Plaza was originally called Harrah's at Trump Plaza when it opened May 14, 1984 as Atlantic City's tenth casino. Holiday Inn (99% owner of Harrah's at the time) selected Trump to construct the building.

In May 1986 Trump became sole owner of the casino and renamed it Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino.

10. What was the land in the marina district on which the Borgata casino is built formerly used for? (Hint: Before construction started, many loads of dirt had to be dumped on the area to prevent any contamination problems.)

Answer: Old city dump

The 178-acre parcel of land (referred to as the "H" tract or Renaissance Pointe) on which the Borgata casino is built was the old city dump. It was sold to then-Mirage Chairman Steve Wynn for $1, provided he build a casino hotel there with at least 2,000 rooms. MGM Mirage's half interest in the 2,002-room Borgata casino satisfies this agreement. Part of the Borgata construction involved trucking in many loads of dirt to cover up the old dump to prevent any contamination problems.

Source: Author root17

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Atlantic City Casinos Trivia Quiz

You may have gambled there, but how much do you know about the history of how Atlantic City casinos came to be? If you have time, the additional information is very informative.

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