Atlantic City Targets LOCALS

Ahhhh....paving the streets with Fools' Gold, phony promises, mismanagement and corruption, Atlantic City's Slot Barns have drained the swamp and seek to suck discretionary $$$$ from the LOCALS.

Deluding yourself that 'We can get it right!' doesn't work when you consider the experience of others in the Race to the Bottom.



Atlantic City casino takes a gamble with cheaper chips, smaller stakes for bigger crowds
By Eliot Caroom/The Star-Ledger

ATLANTIC CITY — As Atlantic City casinos fight for their survival while regional competitors multiply and revenues dive, one gaming hall believes it’s on to something.

The Atlantic Club is offering its players cheaper chips and smaller stakes.

"Anything to play longer here," patron Cassandra Johnson of Landover, Md., said during a recent visit to the Atlantic Club, the original Golden Nugget that’s now on its third name in about a year.

The casino is betting its future on fulfilling her wish.

"If we were a hamburger place, we would try to have the best hamburger ... our aim is to have the best slot floor," said COO Michael Frawley.

Among the changes are a higher percentage of penny slots, 70 percent, than any other casino in the city and lower limits for table games. The casino will take $1 bets on roulette and blackjack, and $3 bets on dice games. Gamblers can use 25- and 50-cent chips just approved by state regulators — the cheapest ever in Atlantic City.

For years casinos have aimed for big spenders with luxurious frills and costly entertainment. Many also paid partial bus fare for low-budget players. But experts say the Atlantic Club’s cut-rate strategy is something unique.

"Most casinos would like to have ‘whales.’ Whales are the ones making the thousand-dollar bets, and getting (complimentary) hotel rooms," said Richard McGowan, a Boston College professor who studies gaming and cited the Borgata, which just announced a $50 million makeover, and the Trump Taj Mahal as establishments that court whales. "It looks like this place is going after the minnows."


Eliot Caroom/The Star-LedgerThe Hilton sign has been taken down, but as of late last week, the Atlantic Club sign had yet to go up at this revamped hotel-casino in Atlantic City.
McGowan said the strategy could help the Atlantic Club fight other Atlantic City casinos and competition in Pennsylvania for the low end of the market.

"The bus crowds for the most part like to play slot machines," he said. "It looks like this casino is getting people to play other things and afford it."

McGowan’s not the only one who thinks the strategy could buoy the Atlantic Club, which has lost money, laid off workers and nearly fell into foreclosure in recent years.

"It certainly has potential," Michael Pollock, founder of the Gaming Industry Observer, said of the low-roller approach. "Historically there have been numerous properties trying to take their disadvantages and turn them into advantages. It has to be done, because the status quo is really not an option."

That’s true because Pennsylvania casinos topped Atlantic City’s in monthly revenue for the first time late last year. On top of that, the Revel will open this spring in Atlantic City — a new, somewhat secluded and smoke-free venue.

It’s true that some casinos already have table games with low minimums.

"Casinos have always adjusted the minimum bet on tables based on demand, kind of like pricing a plane ticket," explained Daniel Heneghan, a spokesman for the Casino Control Commission. "On a Saturday night you’re going to find higher table minimums than at Tuesday noontime."

But the Atlantic Club plans to double down on low-stakes tables and 1,500 low-denomination slot machines, 70 percent of them penny slots.

"We’re doing what our core product is," Frawley said.

Frawley began his career in 1978 with a dice dealing job at the birth of Atlantic City’s first casino, Resorts International, worked casino jobs in Biloxi, Miss., and returned to the city in 2008 to take on his first COO job in a profoundly changed market.

Billboards have gone up around Atlantic City promoting the value sell with the slogan "Finally, a casino for the rest of us."

Another part of the local strategy: The Atlantic Club is partnering with local businesses so "comp" dollars earned by hours of play can be used at 20 partner businesses in the area, including ‘The Walk,’ which includes 95 stores.

The comp program is already under way, and nearby Margate grocer Casel’s Marketplace sees an average of $700 in comp money spent there each week.

Casino regulators applaud the Atlantic Club’s attempts to reinvent itself.

"Atlantic Club’s branding to attract local residents and its efforts in marketing lower minimum play is supported by the Division (of Gaming Enforcement)," the agency’s head, David Rebuck, said in a statement.

Frawley said he believes other casinos in Atlantic City will try to compete with the new model.

But he thinks it will be hard to readily imitate the affordable restaurants, slot floor and expanded use of comps.

"If you come here with a couple of hundred bucks, you should be here for a few hours and have a great meal, instead of a couple of minutes," Frawley said.