Recently, Hugh Hefner helped to open a new Playboy Club in Las Vegas’ Palms hotel-casino. It brought the Playboy brand of clubs back to the United States after an 18-year absence and represented the company’s return to casino gaming. Today, its brief foray as a casino owner—a casino hotel in Atlantic City—is almost unknown outside of Absecon Island.

Even before casino gaming was legalized, Playboy had its eye on a New Jersey casino. All the way back in 1972, when legalized gambling ideas were first floated, company officials expressed interest in a casino at its existing club in McAfee, Sussex County. Since the company ran four casinos in Britain, it was thought that the company would be a natural in the American gambling arena.

After the 1976 referendum allowing casinos in Atlantic City, Playboy shifted gears, since gaming was limited to Atlantic City and not all of New Jersey. In ’77, Playboy Clubs International President Victor Lownes testified at a public hearing that his company was prepared to spend $32 million on a casino project. He further urged that the “English system” be adopted—casinos would be limited to 16 hours and barred from offering players drinks at tables. Casinos would be forbidden from offering live entertainment, and credit would be tightly restricted.

Luckily, Lownes didn’t carry the day—Atlantic City’s casino laws, though stricter than those of Nevada, were decidedly more liberal than Britain’s. But his attitude foreshadowed future problems the Playboy casino would have.

The casino ran into obstacles before it was off the drawing board. The Federal Aviation Administration blocked Playboy from building a 33-story hotel tower on its Convention Hall-adjacent plot, claiming it would impede air traffic at Bader Field.

In response, the building’s height was reduced to 22 stories. Las Vegas architect Martin Stern, Jr., who built the Las Vegas Hilton and MGM Grand, designed a green glass tower with a three-level casino and a Playboy Key Club, among other amenities.

As work progressed on the casino, Playboy Enterprise’s fiscal health slipped. With its clubs and hotels not performing up to par, the company was counting on a tremendous boost from its Atlantic City casino. But to get the financing needed to build the now $135 million casino, it accepted the Elsinore Corporation as a partner.

The Playboy was issued a temporary permit on April 4, 1981, with the proviso that several Playboy International executives remain out of operations. At the time, Playboy’s London casino was at the center of a Scotland Yard investigation.

The casino officially opened on April 14, following four days of play-money gambling. Though the casino showed a profit over the summer, a cloud hung over Playboy’s prospects for a permanent license. The company was forced to sell its British casinos, and Casino Control Commission officials questioned both Playboy and Elsinore’s “suitability” for licensing.

In the end, the CCC issued a license to Elsinore but denied one to Playboy. Playboy then agreed to sell its share in the casino to Elsinore, which re-named the resort the Atlantis—a poor choice, when one thinks about the original fate of the Lost Continent. By the summer of 1984, Playboy Bunnies were out, the giant bunny logo on the crest of the building replaced by a seashell, and the age of Atlantis had begun.

Almost from the start, the casino took on water. In November 1985, it filed for bankruptcy, and continued to struggle for nearly five more years. In the spring of 1989, Donald Trump bought the Atlantis for a mere $63 million. Trump closed the casino and operated the property as the hotel-only Trump Regency.

In May 1996, after a regulatory change allowed him to own four casinos, Trump reopened the property as Trump’s World Fair at Trump Plaza. But this world’s fair was no cash cow; three years later, Trump closed the casino, citing its failure to turn a profit, and demolished it, promising to build a newer, more fantastic resort in its place.

That hasn’t happened yet—the land is now owned by a condominium developer who might, or might not, build on it. And there have been some rumors of it becoming part of a huge Trump-Steve Wynn development. But whatever the parcel’s eventual use, the original Playboy casino’s legacy will endure as long as bunny ears remain popular.

By David Schwartz

David G. Schwartz (www.dieiscast.com), an Atlantic City native, is the Director of the Center for Gaming Research at UNLV and the author of several books, including Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling.