Two Atlantic City hotel/casinos – one still standing, the other no longer with us – had rather unusual beginnings.
The Brighton Hotel & Casino is barely remembered today, although it was actually the fourth hotel/casino to open in Atlantic City, and the resort’s first totally new hotel/casino. The three that opened prior to Brighton – Resorts, Caesars, and Bally’s – were all built, to varying degrees, on existing structures.
The concept for the Brighton, which opened on Aug. 1, 1980 on South Indiana Avenue, was to create a quiet, sophisticated atmosphere that would appeal to Boardwalk high rollers. Sadly, what the developers didn’t realize was that such a market simply didn’t exist.
Brighton booked the notable, and generally low-key jazz legends who did well in the lounges of Las Vegas, including vibraphonist Red Norvo, pianists Teddy Wilson and Earl “Fatha” Hines, and the singing jazz duo of Jackie Cain and Roy Kral. However, the first commercial spokesperson for Brighton was anything but low-key as it was none other than long-time Miss America pageant host, Bert Parks.
There were problems from the start. A month after the Brighton opening, the Holiday Inn chain signed a deal to buy the venue for $121 million plus stock options, which was actually a pretty good deal in that it cost Brighton $80 million to build.
Something happened in less than a month to sour the deal, and the Holiday Inn buyout never went through, leaving Brighton in a precarious position. Its small size, and the idea of a quiet place for high rollers were concepts that just weren’t working.
In 1981, about a year after it opened, an outfit called Inns of America came up with $10 million to help Brighton keep the doors open. Not long after that, Inns of America, a corporation which also owned the Sands in Las Vegas at that time, bought a 60 percent interest in Brighton for $30 million, took over the property and renamed it the Sands. The newly-renamed hotel/casino finally began to show a profit. Perhaps the very name, “the Sands,” promised the Vegas flash and glamour that Atlantic City gaming customers really wanted.
Over the years there were a number of changes in ownership, several expansions, and extensive redevelopment efforts. The Sands’ storied history, especially when it came to entertainment, has been detailed in these pages previously.
The end came for the troubled venue on Oct. 18, 2007, when it became the first hotel/casino on the East Coast to be imploded.
A much more successful story began on Dec. 29, 1979, when Bally’s Park Place opened as the third hotel/casino on the Atlantic City Boardwalk. Its beginnings were unique as it was built on the site of two of the city’s most historic hotels – the Marlborough-Blenheim and the Dennis Hotel.
The deal was brokered by noted Atlantic City art dealer and showman Reese Palley, and lawyer Martin Blatt. The two bought the Marlborough with the intention of spending more than $30 million to renovate it, keeping the Blenheim wing intact and tearing down the Marlborough section to make room for a casino. In the midst of this, Palley used his connections and gift of gab to get the Blenheim portion listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Though some viewed Palley as a blowhard, he was plenty smart. He knew that properties listed on the National Register could qualify for federal rehabilitation tax credits equal to 20 percent of the owner’s renovation costs.
With that in mind, Palley and Blatt engineered a deal with the Bally’s Corporation, then the world’s largest manufacturer of slot machines, to lease – not buy – the Marlborough for 40 years, with a 100-year option. Not long after that deal was made, Bally’s bought the Dennis, next door to the Marlborough, for $4 million from the First National Bank of South Jersey.
With Bally’s at the helm, the company decided to tear down the Dennis, the Blenheim and Marlborough, much to the chagrin of many, to make way for an $83 million hotel/casino. In the interest of speed and as a cost-cutting measure, Bally’s held on to the Dennis and used it as its hotel. In 2000, the Bally’s Park Place name was changed to Bally’s Atlantic City.
Since its opening almost 46 years ago, the venue has undergone various changes in ownership and several renovations. Despite all the updates through the years, Bally’s has never been the flashiest of the hotel/casinos, and in terms of entertainment, has stuck mainly to cover bands and DJs.
Like other Atlantic City casinos, things have been tough as of late for Bally’s. In 2023 it showed a profit of $11.1 million, but plummeted to $2.5 million in 2024 for a slide of nearly 77%. Bear in mind, however, that Atlantic City casino profits as a whole dropped by 9 percent last year, when compared to 2023 numbers.
The good news at Bally’s is that it continues to stay in the game with new restaurants, a new VIP Players Club Lounge, new high-limit slot lounge, new rewards center, two new slot rooms, high-limit table rooms, new spa and lobby, more suites, newly-renovated hotel rooms, and other updates. And yes, the Dennis Hotel still stands.
Bruce Klauber is the author of four books, an award-winning music journalist, concert and record producer and publicist, producer of the Warner Brothers and Hudson Music “Jazz Legends” film series, and performs both as a drummer and vocalist.
