The boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, looks like a forgotten film set. Scant tourists look in vain for its Prohibition-era glory. The windows of the Central Pier Arcade are grey with dirt. The nearby Trump Plaza stands empty. Snarkier non-residents call the town “America’s armpit”.
But Franco Guerrero, who has worked in Atlantic City’s casinos for 29 years, says that after dark days following the 2008 recession, the town — its resorts and railroad once the inspiration for the US version of the Monopoly board game — has new hope courtesy of the legalisation of one activity: sports betting.
“A lot of people lost a lot of money and they moved out?.?.?.?but now there are more jobs and opportunities,” says Mr Guerrero. He moved from one of the boardwalk’s oldest surviving casinos, Harrah’s, to work at the Hard Rock resort’s sportsbook — the US answer to a bookmaker’s shop but with big live sports screens and alcohol on sale — which opened in June last year.