The Showboat Resort Atlantic City is a resort hotel and former casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Showboat opened as a casino hotel in 1987 and closed in 2014; the hotel reopened in 2016.

Venue: Showboat Atlantic City
Address: 801 Boardwalk
Town: New Jersey, US

The Showboat Resort Atlantic City is a resort hotel and former casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Showboat opened as a casino hotel in 1987 and closed in 2014; the hotel reopened in 2016. It is owned by developer Bart Blatstein. It is home to the Island Waterpark at Showboat, and the largest arcade in New Jersey, as well as the Residences at Showboat Apartments offering fully furnished and unfurnished apartment rentals in the Premier Lite Tower. On March 30, 1987, the Showboat Hotel, Casino and Bowling Center opened with a 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m2) casino and a 60-lane bowling alley. The complex was built on land leased from Resorts International, just north of the under-construction Resorts Taj Mahal (which became the Trump Taj Mahal upon opening in 1990, now the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City). The grand opening ceremony featured Bob Hope and Al Hirt. The Showboat opened the city's first racebook in 1993, following the legalization in 1990 of casino simulcast wagering. Steelman Partners completed a major renovation in 1995, creating a Mardi Gras theme. In 1998, the property's parent company, Showboat, Inc., was purchased by Harrah's Entertainment, later known as Caesars Entertainment. With the popularity of bowling on the decline, the bowling alley was closed in 2001, and the space was used for a new buffet and a coffee shop. In May 2003, the Showboat added a 544-room, $90 million hotel tower called the Orleans Tower. In 2007, the hotel remodeled its original tower, the Bourbon Tower. In June 2014, Caesars Entertainment announced the planned closure of the Showboat, even though the property was profitable. The move was made in an effort to stabilize Caesars's other Atlantic City casinos. After a buyer could not be found, the Showboat closed on August 31, 2014, at 4:00 p.m. It employed 2,100 people, but 470 of them were immediately hired at other Caesars casinos. The shutdown came amid a wave of closures of Atlantic City properties, with four of t