Atlantic City vs. Vegas: betting on the Boardwalk?
Buoyed by multi-million dollar projects, Atlantic City is repeatedly rolling the dice to win over Las Vegas.
“The biggest goal Atlantic City can achieve is overcoming what has been a negative stigma on our reputation as being a one-type market: the buffet customers coming on a bus trip,” Larry Mullin, CEO of the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa, told MCNBS.com.
What the two areas have in common is the opening of the $1.1 billion Borgata in July of 2003 altered the landscape in Atlantic City, just as the $650 million Mirage did when it opened in Vegas in 1989.
In Vegas, with the opening of the Mirage, the city began to shed its image as a no-frills wedding Mecca. Non-gamblers began to come for the shows and the restaurants.
Celebrity chefs such as Wolfgang Puck and trendy nightclubs began to attract a younger clientele. That is the same demographic that Atlantic City is increasingly trying to attract as it goes beyond its image as a quick weekend place to gamble.
The Borgata was the first new property to open in 13 years. And it was against tradition because it was not on the Boardwalk. But it attracted retail shops, brand-name restaurants and spas.
That’s been ongoing in recent years.
To cite just one example: Gordon Group Holdings this summer is opening The Pier at Caesars, which includes 15 restaurants and 90 stores.
The new development has many of the same luxury tenants that are today at the forum shops in Las Vegas.
Vegas has been undergoing a switch from a reliance on gaming revenues to non-gaming. Fifteen years ago, 72% of its income came from gaming but today, less than half, or 46%, is gaming-related.
Atlantic City still has a long ways to go.
Estimates are that Vegas vacations take months of planning with thousands of dollars spent. Atlantic City for most is still a quick weekend trip for small time wagering.
Most visitors to Atlantic City stay less than 24 hours, while the average visitor to Vegas stays more than four nights.
The Las Vegas strip still has three times the amount of casinos found in Atlantic City, but the New Jersey city that only opened its first casino as part of a revitalization effort in 1978 has yet to be counted out.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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