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Summit to explore what's next for Atlantic City

Recognizing rapidly deteriorating conditions in Atlantic City, which is losing four casinos this year, Gov. Christie last month called for a summit on the city's future.

Recognizing rapidly deteriorating conditions in Atlantic City, which is losing four casinos this year, Gov. Christie last month called for a summit on the city's future.

The closed-door summit, expected to last up to 90 minutes, is scheduled for 2 p.m. Monday at the offices of the Casino Reinvestment Development Corp. in Atlantic City.

Turmoil in Atlantic City showed no signs of letting up as rumors intensified Friday that the owner of Trump Taj Mahal would file for bankruptcy. The company warned in a regulatory filing last month it was running out of money.

The Aug. 13 summit announcement said the governor would invite politicians, government officials, organized-labor leaders, casinos industry executives, and other experts. Late Friday afternoon, the governor's office said 35 or 40 people would attend but did not identify them.

Among those not invited to the summit are Oliver Cooke, an economics professor at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in Pomona, who has published detailed analyses of the Atlantic City region's economy.

"There is at this time a real bifurcation of views regarding the way forward," Cooke said in an e-mail Friday.

"Some ardently believe that continued expansion and diversification of AC's entertainment/tourism/resort industry (and lengthening of the shoulder season) plus a 'retiree economy' represent the solution/best hope. I do not believe that will work. It will help of course. But any turnaround will likely involve considerably more than that," Cooke wrote.

Government officials, including state Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester), have been hammering on the idea that the way forward for Atlantic City is to de-emphasize the casinos.

Officials of Latitude 360 Inc. of Jacksonville, Fla., told the Associated Press on Friday they had looked at the former Showboat Casino, which closed Sunday, as a possible site for a $20 million entertainment project that would not involve gambling.

Such a project would fit with what Sweeney envisions. "Our real focus now is on taking Atlantic City back to what it was, a resort," Sweeney said Tuesday.

"We don't want gaming to be the focus. We want it to be secondary," he said. Asked about Christie's summit, Sweeney said he did not know who was invited.

Bob Ambrose, who was a manager in Atlantic City for 25 years and is now a hospitality and gaming instructor at Drexel University, said it was good that Christie plans to have a discussion, but he warned that there was no simple fix.

"It's great that they are extending the reach of hospitality into other areas, growing the restaurants, growing the entertainment, but that's not going be the sole solution," Ambrose said.

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