During a work trip I made to Atlantic City to cover the challenges faced by the east coast gaming market in 2013, Dan Heneghan decided he wanted to show me a portion of the boardwalk far from the casinos and tourist area.
There wasn’t much left to it.
The small section was wiped away by Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Heneghan, chief communications officer for the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, was dismayed that the national media had portrayed that tiny piece of the boardwalk as “Atlantic City casinos damaged by the storm.”
That wasn’t the case.
Heneghan, 65, was one gaming industry spokesman you could always trust to give you the unvarnished facts. It only seemed fitting that his last day before retirement coincided with the openings of the two casinos considered the centerpieces of the Atlantic City gaming community’s resurgence.
Dan Heneghan points to plaque commemorating his service to the Absecon Lighthouse in Atlantic City (Photo courtesy Facebook)
Heneghan was there for the highs and lows of Atlantic City. He put in 22 years with the state’s regulatory body. Prior to his job with the commission, he spent 21 years as a reporter for the Press of Atlantic City.
“What I really enjoyed about being a journalist was being able to have an impact on public policy,” Heneghan said. “That’s heady stuff for a journalist. But it’s also rewarding being able to influence public policy from the inside. You’re able to help create more appropriate policy before changes are needed.”
Heneghan’s well-attended retirement party at the Irish Pub Atlantic City symbolized the impact he had on the city casino community. It brought together journalists, regulators, gaming industry leaders, business leaders and political types.
A few days later, Heneghan attended the openings of Hard Rock Atlantic City and Ocean Resort Casino.
It was just a short time ago that Heneghan watched five boardwalk casinos close in a year, victims of a market collapse brought on by competition from a casino-saturated Northeast. Atlantic City gaming revenue went through nine straight years of decline, from a high of $5.2 billion in 2006 to $2.56 billion in 2015.
Heneghan is hopeful the openings will stimulate the boardwalk.
“We took a body blow, and these new properties will be a shock to the system,” he said.
Heneghan is also the ultimate Atlantic City gaming historian.
As a journalist or regulatory official, he sat through every Atlantic City gaming license hearing, and attended every casino opening. He had front row seats to the rise and fall of Donald Trump, the battles between Trump and Steve Wynn, and the rejections of Stewart and Clifford Pearlman, Hugh Heffner, and Baron Hilton’s hotel-casino project.
In fact, Heneghan wrote an analysis for the Press that correctly predicted Hilton’s 1985 licensing denial. His editor was initially reluctant to run it.
“Gaming was the best beat at the newspaper,” he recalled. “I was able to craft it as business beat, not so much as entertainment. It was like covering the auto industry in Detroit or steel in Pittsburgh.”
Heneghan took over gaming coverage in 1979, just as Resorts was opening. We became acquainted a decade later during my first stint as gaming reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. At the time, Nevada and New Jersey were the only legal casino gaming markets in the U.S., making us the only two gaming reporters at metropolitan daily newspapers.
My counterpart witnessed many controversial moves in Atlantic City.
New Jersey’s denial of the Hilton Hotels was a turning point for the market, Heneghan believes. The commission cited the firm’s 13-year association with a Chicago labor lawyer, whose alleged organized crime ties sunk the deal.
“I think it could have been handled differently by both sides,” Heneghan said, while pointing out that one of the commissioners who voted against Hilton “was at my retirement party.”
Dan Heneghan and Atlantic City Mayor Frank Gilliam prepare to climb Absecon Lighthouse (Photo courtesy Facebook)
Trump, now President Trump, was “more of an amusement character” than anything else. Heneghan pointed out Trump’s name has been scrubbed away from the shuttered Trump Plaza, his original property, which may soon be demolished.
If anything, retirement gives Heneghan more time for his other love, beyond his wife Catherine and his family – Atlantic City’s historic Absecon Lighthouse. Heneghan estimates he’s climbed the 228 steps of the 171-foot-tall lighthouse more than 500 times.
He started climbing Absecon – located on the north end of the peninsula at Pacific and Rhode Island Avenues – as part of his exercise program.
Over the years, Heneghan has raised money for the preservation of the 160-year-old structure and has accompanied notables on the climb. In May, he made the trek to the top with new Atlantic City Mayor Frank Gilliam.
“It keeps me motivated, it keeps me exercising, and it gets great exposure for the lighthouse,” Heneghan said.
Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgamingreports.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.
