Atlantic City Casinos Wrap Up New Labor Deals as NYC Looms
All nine Atlantic City casino properties have now completed new labor agreements with UNITE HERE Local 54 after Bally's Atlantic City finished the latest round this week, closing out a negotiating cycle the union says maintained and improved contractual pay, benefits, and employment standards. Unlike prior negotiations dating back to 2022, the new contracts run just one year — a notably shorter term than the multi-year deals the union has typically secured in the past.
A shorter deal, against a harder backdrop
Local 54 President Donna DeCaprio said in a statement that the union's negotiating committee, members, and staff "stood up and fought to maintain and improve the contractual pay, benefit and employment standards that make these jobs good union jobs." The compressed one-year term suggests both sides are treating the current period as unusually uncertain for Atlantic City's casino industry, rather than locking in terms for several years at a time the way past cycles have.
Why New York casts a long shadow
The timing lines up with growing competitive pressure from New York City's new casino market. Resorts World NYC has been averaging roughly $30 million a week in gaming revenue over its first three months of operation — an annualized pace near $1.5 billion from a single property. By comparison, all nine Atlantic City casinos combined generated about $2.8 billion in 2025 and roughly $1.5 billion over the first half of 2026. Two additional New York City-area casinos, Metropolitan Park and Bally's Bronx, are projected to open by 2030, adding further competition. An economic report cited alongside the labor talks projected that, under a stress scenario, Atlantic City could lose more than 8,000 casino jobs by 2035 — about a third of the market's current workforce of roughly 21,100.
Why it matters
For a licensed, heavily unionized casino market like Atlantic City, labor stability and regional competition are directly connected: new nearby supply in the New York area changes the revenue picture every property in Atlantic City is negotiating against. The one-year term gives both the casinos and the union a chance to revisit terms again relatively soon, once there's more visibility into how much of Atlantic City's business New York's expanding casino footprint actually pulls away.