America 1919

Before Las Vegas developed, Miami's Golden Beach had always been the place that attracted many American tycoons for vacation.

As for Atlantic City...

In fact, at the beginning of its development, the first pioneers of Atlantic City truly wanted to use its natural geographical advantages to turn it into a resort for America's wealthy.

However, at that time, despite Atlantic City's excellent geographical advantages, the environment was not very good. During the summer, the city would be overrun with flies; one might come out of the bathroom wearing a suit of flies, and in addition, the drinking water in Atlantic City was highly inconvenient. This led to wealthy individuals losing interest in the area.

Under such circumstances, Atlantic City could only attract blue-collar workers from Philadelphia and New York.

"Donnie, things are not that simple!" Nucky didn't think Donnie's decision was a good one, but now that Donnie could bring a vast fortune to him, Nucky had to take Donnie's decisions seriously.

"As you know, the pillar industry of Atlantic City is actually the gambling industry, but it's prohibited in New Jersey because of our circumstances here and my connections. Whether it is New Jersey or the National Government, they would turn a blind eye to the gambling industry in Atlantic City.

If we build a... just like you said, a hotel that would surpass the Edison Hotel, it must include a casino. Such a large-scale casino would definitely draw national attention. Once that happens, we would become a target, and media from all over the country would swarm here. With the surge of public opinion, you should know what would happen to that hotel without me even saying!"

The result could easily be guessed, of course—it would be shut down!

Donnie nodded and said, "Of course, I have considered this point, so I believe there is something even more urgent that we need to take care of before doing this!"

With the success of Miss America and the Atlantic City Broadcast Company, Nucky couldn't ignore any of Donnie's ideas.

"What is it?"

Donnie said, "That's to use the upcoming election to get New Jersey to allow legalization of gambling in Atlantic City. As long as this law passes, we won't have a problem with building the hotel!"

"Legalization of gambling?" Nucky was a bit stunned. He had never considered this before, and it was related to the current situation in Atlantic City. The gambling industry there hadn't been stopped, nor had there been any prohibitive actions, which led Nucky to always believe that the gambling industry was permissible in Atlantic City.

Now, Donnie suddenly bringing up the legalization of gambling unavoidably took Nucky by surprise.

However, after his momentary shock, Nucky still shook his head and said, "It's difficult. Although we control both houses of Atlantic City, there is still the presence of the Democratic Party. If they make a big deal out of this, it will definitely arouse opposition from the people of New Jersey, and that wouldn't be a good thing for us!"

Donnie looked at Nucky and said, "You mean you're worried that the Democratic Party might propose that allowing gambling legalization in Atlantic City would lead to a proliferation of casinos, which would then trigger various social problems?"

Nucky had simply thought that the Democratic Party would reject this idea, but he hadn't considered how they would do so. Now, after Donnie's reminder, he believed that was likely the case.

"Exactly, you know, what American politicians value the most is whether a place is stable and avoids exposure of its dark side. If we propose this, it will definitely be exploited by the Democratic Party, especially at this critical moment!"

Donnie didn't respond directly to Nucky's comment and instead asked Nucky, "Nucky, what do you think of the current West District of Atlantic City?"

Nucky wore a smile and said, "It's very good. I've never thought Eli could exhibit such capability. To be honest, I didn't anticipate the transformations in the West District these past few months!"

Donnie also smiled, "My brother John is currently in the West District, so I am relatively well-informed about the situation there. As far as I know, after Eli's reforms, Nucky, your income in the West District has increased by at least fifty percent. If we consider the entire Atlantic City as the West District, what do you think the impact of such a change would be?"

Nucky's eyes widened; he felt he was struggling to keep up with Donnie's train of thought, but he didn't want to appear slow to Donnie, so he ventured to ask, "So what you're saying is, implement a bidding system across the whole of Atlantic City, regulate the number of casinos, thereby preventing chaos in Atlantic City and getting the two houses to agree to our suggestion?"

Donnie shook his head and said, "No, what I mean is, if Atlantic City can achieve legalization of gambling, to ensure the security and order here, we would need to introduce something like casino licenses. Only those with a license would be allowed to set up a casino business, and those without a license would not be permitted in this industry."

Envisioning the West District's situation, Nucky immediately asked, "Are you saying, let people in Atlantic City compete for the licenses, and then we just collect the bidding funds?"

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Donnie shook his head again, and Nucky's face darkened a bit. Donnie didn't mind and continued with a smile, "What I mean is, there will be only one available casino license in Atlantic City, and that would belong to our soon-to-be-built hotel. With no competition, Atlantic City will naturally avoid chaos too!"

Nucky laughed heartily and said, "Donnie, I thought you had come up with some genius idea. If it's like that, all those currently operating casinos in Atlantic City would surely go mad, and the ensuing chaos would far exceed your expectations!"

Donnie confidently stated, "Then what if we set up N number of premium gambling halls within our casino, all managed by some of the current influential casino owners in Atlantic City? At that time, they would only need to pay us a portion of their income from these premium halls.

So tell me, when all those visiting Atlantic City to gamble enter our casino, how much do you think our revenue will be?"