Movie stars lent an air of celebrity glitz to a gritty seaside gambling resort Thursday as Atlantic City reclaimed two of its shuttered casinos, and more than 6,000 of the 11,000 jobs it lost during a brutal stretch of casino shutdowns.
The Hard Rock, which was the former Trump Taj Mahal, held a mass guitar smashing ceremony inside its concert arena that holds nearly 8,000 fans. “Black Panther” star Michael B. Jordan was among those helping to christen the facility.
Just as that wrapped up, the Ocean Resort Casino, the former Revel, held a ribbon cutting a few hundred yards north on the Boardwalk at which actor, singer and die-hard New England Patriots fan Mark Wahlberg had to eat crow in front of hundreds of Philadelphia Eagles fans who reminded him of the outcome of February’s Super Bowl.