Letter: Mirage returns east, but for how long?

How precious, I thought. A decade after running his Golden Nugget casino out of town, which was a deciding factor in spurring the depressed era of the early '90s, Steve Wynn is scalawagging his "goods" back to town with his new casino venture. Of course, it took the Mother of All Sweetheart Deals from the New Jersey Legislature to do it.

This kind of false bravado makes me sick to my stomach. The way I see it, Steve Wynn has as much loyalty to Atlantic City and the New Jersey economy as the post Civil War carpetbaggers did in exploiting the South. Now Donald Trump, on the other hand, built up his casino empire in Atlantic City and even endured the most traumatic financial storm in business history. In fact, he showed so much faith in Atlantic City that he even expanded his operations, which in turn, has lead to the most prosperous times in Atlantic City history.

If I, for one, happen to come out on the short end of a gambling trip, I don't feel so bad knowing that I lost my money in one of Trump's world-class casinos than in Wynn's forthcoming gaudy monstrosity. Trump deserves this kind of loyalty from the gambling public because he showed that loyalty to Atlantic City when the other high-roller took the low road out of town at the first sign of trouble.

And you can be sure that when the next cyclical economic downturn hits the Northeast, history will repeat itself, with Wynn folding up his gypsy operation like a MASH unit.

Eugene R. Dunn, Manorville, N.Y.

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