Until then, the only other state to allow such gambling was Nevada, which legalized casinos in 1931. But the gains often came with significant social and economic costs in Atlantic City, Philadelphia, and other communities in the region.Ĭasinos began to open in the region in the late 1970s when, after much debate, New Jersey lawmakers legalized casinos in Atlantic City as a way to revitalize the once-thriving resort known as America’s Playground.
In the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, casino gambling became an accepted public policy in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and other states desperate to generate tax revenue and create jobs. Philadelphia, the Place that Loves You Back.
