Atlantic City is the second largest casino destination in the United States. Yet, it looks like the city is going through tough times. Only a few  weeks ago, the city came third in a survey about the best places to go for a casino break in the United States. Las Vegas came first, as always, but surprisingly New Orleans came second. Atlantic City came third.

You always think that discrimination at a casino is going to be against the punters. Some casino  have a reputation for having strict entry rules such as members only, dress code or VIP guest only. It’s up to the casino to decide who they want to let in. A casino will never let a gambler enter the casino if they are on the casino ban list but they might also decide to refuse entry to non members, or people who they think might be under the influence of alcohol.

With membership to some exclusive casinos starting at $10,000, it’s a way for the casino to select members and keep the casino exclusive or VIP only. Some casinos might also refuse entry to someone who is not dressed appropriately and some casinos will require men to wear a jacket. For more relax gamblers, there’s no need to worry as most casinos don’t have a dress code. You can even go to a casino in Brazil wearing shorts on your way back from the beach.

For the Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City however, discrimination charges were not made against one of the gamblers trying to come in to play at the casino but towards the staff. The casino is facing a discrimination lawsuit after 16 cocktail waitresses lost their jobs at the casino.

Recently, the casino decided to do a makeover and go for a new theme. The casino managers wanted to recreate the 1920′s and 1930′s Prohibition style within the casino and part of the plan was to change the uniform of the waitresses. The staff went along with the plan and tried on the new uniform. The managers had opted for short skirts and sexy dress uniform for the cocktail waitresses. For some unknown reason, the casino managers decided that the uniform would be more suited on younger waitresses and sacked 16 long-time employees of the Resorts Casino Hotel aged between 40 and 60, including members of staff who had worked at the casino since it opened in 1978. They no longer met the requirements of the new management. New waitresses were hired and the main criteria of selection seemed to have been their younger age as they were all in their 20s although the management claimed that selection was fair.

The management was soon contacted by union officials and employee protection agencies and they are now facing an age-discrimination lawsuit.

It is estimated that 26% of the U.S. population over the age of 21 enjoys gambling at the casino at least once a year. This means that millions of adults of all ages will go to casino at least once a year, both men and female, and certainly not all in their 20s. The casino would have been better off taking a good look at its customer base before starting to discriminate.