With the legalization of casino gaming in November 1976, the floodgates of new development opened wide, sending a deluge of planned new casino hotels over Absecon Island. Many of these proposed developments happened, and over the next ten years a building boom brought investment and jobs to Atlantic City. But the projects that weren't built point the way toward a fascinating future that never happened. In 1979, it seemed like the Marina district might be the real future of Atlantic City casinos. Holiday Inn had already started work on a casino there, and Harrah's, MGM Grand, and Hilton proposed a nearby complex of three casinos. This would have put four casinos in the Marina area, with three more projected in the near future. There was talk of a Boardwalk-Marina rivalry. The companies involved promised a "joint effort," capped by a section of boardwalk linking the Marina casinos that would eclipse the century-old wooden way by the beach. But this cluster was not to be. After the death of Bill Harrah, Holiday Inns acquired his Nevada casinos, stuck his name on its under-construction Marina casino, and tabled its other projects, which included a second Marina casino. Though Harrah's would briefly stake a claim on the Boardwalk with a property called "Harrah's at Trump Plaza," the company never built anything of its own on the boards, though it has since acquired the Showboat, Bally's and Caesars. After Holiday Inns canceled the second Harrah's casino, MGM and Hilton announced their plans to continue. The MGM Grand Atlantic City would have been a 2,100-room, 385-foot hotel tower next to the Hilton with its primary frontage on Absecon Inlet. Had it been built, it might still today be the city's largest casino. But the MGM Grand did not happen, likely because of the lawsuits caused by the 1980 MGM Grand Las Vegas fire, which claimed 84 lives. Hilton pushed back the construction of its hotel, which it finally completed but, because of difficulties in getting a casino license, sold to Donald Trump. It became Trump's Castle. Other projects also changed their names. Ramada planned to build a casino called the Phoenix, possibly in tribute to the city of its corporate headquarters, but settled on the Tropicana. Penthouse bought the Boardwalk Holiday Inn and the 4 Seasons, which was located on Pacific Avenue, and erected the framework for a casino that would connect the two towers. Longtime residents might remember the hulking girders that, for years, were a reminder of the casino's failure. Eventually, the site was purchased by the adjacent Trump Plaza, which developed part of it as its East Tower. The Penthouse wasn't the only notable failure. The owner of Las Vegas' Dunes planned a seaside version, but it was never built, though for years its incomplete skeleton was a constant reminder of a future that never happened. After the Dunes' financing fell through, the property was sold at auction, and is now a parking lot. Near the Dunes, Del Webb planned an East Coast version of its Las Vegas Sahara casino. It demolished the President Hotel, but never built anything, though the company retained architect Martin Stern, Jr. to design a casino for the site. After Del Webb sold the land to Golden Nugget in 1982, Stern apparently felt free to shop the design around. The Showboat looks remarkably like Stern's original Sahara design. If things had gone differently, the familiar stepped-back tower would have been found at the west, not east end of the Boardwalk. Another Showboat curiosity: the casino's original name was "Ocean Showboat," which would have made the idea of a Mississippi River vessel in Atlantic City a little less confusing. Instead, the Showboat has become "the Mardi Gras casino." There were countless other projects: the Hi-Ho Hotel would have replaced the Claridge, while the Benihana would have incorporated the Shelburne. Neither project came to pass, though it's interesting to wonder whether the Hi-Ho's rooftop rotating bar would have become a favored Atlantic City watering hole. When considering the options for new casinos today, chiefly MGM Mirage's development of its marina parcel and Carl Icahn's plans for the Traymore site, it might be worth more than a laugh to review some of the best-laid plans of the first Atlantic City boom. For while there were many failures, there were also notable successes. From these, no doubt, there are lessons to be learned.

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.