Submitted by admin on Sat, 11/03/2023 - 13:38
As Atlantic City’s Borgata heads toward a milestone anniversary, President Travis Lunn sets a course for the future. By David McKee
Twenty years ago, Atlantic City got a wake-up call. It had evolved – or perhaps devolved – into a sleepy, even stagnant gambling market. Steve Wynn had fled and Donald Trump talked big but did nothing. Then came Borgata, a collaboration between Boyd Gaming and the company then known as MGM Mirage. It opened at 11:50 p.m. on July 2, 2003 with an inaugural roll of the dice on a craps table by actor Stephen Dorff. (Whatever became of him?) Nothing was ever the same. Borgata immediately leapt to the forefront of Atlantic City and grew the market. Over the years, some things have come and gone at the resort, including Boyd’s ownership share (which it invested into growth in other cities) but MGM, now MGM Resorts International, has been a constant.