Spotlight
Millennium Momentum
What does the new millennium hold for Atlantic City?
by Frank Legato
Millennium this, millennium that. Yadda yadda yadda.
It isn’t even here yet, and personally, I’m getting sick and tired of the new millennium. In all of our millennium fervor, no one seems to be mentioning that all this madness is a year early. Since there was no "Year Zero," the new millennium actually begins on January 1, 2001.
Be that as it may, since this is the last issue of Casino Player for the millennium—or at least the last issue of the year before the last year of the millennium—I feel compelled to use this space to evaluate the immediate future of the Atlantic City casino gaming industry.
Atlantic City’s fate in the new millennium will actually be decided in the first decade. Within 10 years, the new Marina district megaresorts will be complete, and all of the other casino operators in town will have had ample time to respond with competitive projects of their own.
If all goes as planned, the H-tract in the Marina district will be home to Mirage Resorts’ "Jardin-Palais" and Boyd Gaming’s "Borgata." It will be a themed wonderland reflecting European resort destinations—namely, France and Italy.
Last month, Mirage Resorts revealed the most detailed plans of its proposed resort to date. The Jardin-Palais (a tentative name; French for "garden palace") will have 1,144 initial hotel rooms spread across three separate buildings. The center high-rise tower will be an elegant, 25-story all-suite hotel. Flanking it will be two low-rise hotel towers, each with 443 standard rooms. The three buildings will form a C-shape around a four-acre garden and courtyard.
It is planned as a shopper’s paradise on the scale of Caesars’ Forum Shops in Las Vegas, and Mirage says the restaurants will feature world-renowned chefs. The casino, projected to be the largest in town, is pegged as only one of a host of amenities.
The other property on the H-tract, Boyd’s Borgata, will be marketed in a similar manner—world-class restaurants and entertainment, tons of things to do besides gaming, and a design reflecting the Tuscan region of Italy which officials say will go "beyond a theme to become an environment."
with the megaresort experience.
I happen to disagree.
There will be a covered walkway connecting these two resorts, and a tram to Harrah’s next door.
The goal of both of these new projects is to lure vacationers to the Marina district for stays lasting several days instead of several hours. Boardwalk casino operators are no doubt watching the plans closely, figuring that the casinos which offer the complete resort experience are the ones that will survive the first decade of the new millennium.
Where does this leave the smaller casinos—the ones without the room for huge expansion projects? Many analysts believe that places such as the Claridge, the Sands and Trump Marina are destined to become acreage swallowed up by the larger casino corporations, unable to compete with the megaresort experience.
I happen to disagree.
First of all, I’m rooting for the Claridge. The 70-year-old hotel has had its death warrant signed by the media more times than its employees care to consider. Yet it has survived by marketing its best points to a particular niche of people. The casino hotel, which at this writing is under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has achieved an almost legendary status as the underdog that has survived the ups and downs of the Atlantic City tourist market since 1930—a feat no other hotel in town can boast.
Meanwhile, the Sands is surviving by marketing to slot players—snatching up every new slot game from all the manufacturers before the ink on the regulatory approval is dry. The casino is also laboring under Chapter 11 protection, using cash flow to update its floor and re-design its hotel. At Trump Marina, the niche is hip youth entertainment—a breathtaking lineup of acts for the massive Baby-Boomer-and-younger audience that shows no signs of slowing.
But how will these small casinos compete with Vegas-style megaresorts for the 21st century tourist? The same as small casinos in Vegas compete with their tourist-mecca neighbors—by offering value.
Value in room rates. Value in food, slot clubs, comps, and gambling rules. Loose slots. Good video poker pay tables. Liberal table game odds.
The smaller Atlantic City casinos must enter the new millennium with a determination to be the Eastern versions of the Boulder Strip, North Las Vegas and Downtown casinos. Tourists go to see Paris, but tourists who are savvy gamblers join the locals at Sam’s Town or Sunset Station.
Granted, these places have much more acreage than any currently occupied Atlantic City lot. But the marketing principles which make them popular do not depend on size; they depend on offering both local and out-of-town gamblers something they cannot get at the megaresorts.
Atlantic City enters the new millennium with the chance to become a major tourist destination. Hopefully, the coming of Mirage and the other new resorts will bring with it a larger international airport and more direct flights from more carriers.
We’ll know the new millennium’s fate for this gaming resort by the sea while the millennium is still in its infancy. My bet is that there are fantastic years ahead—for vacationers and for local gamblers.
