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Atlantic City still sees a winning hand
By Jennifer Moroz and Jacqueline L. Urgo
The Philadelphia Inquirer
PHILADELPHIA - Consider Barbara Blizard converted.
Just a few weeks ago, the 72-year-old retiree was an Atlantic City diehard, making the three-hour round trip from her home in Yardley, Pa., about once a week to hit the slots at Showboat and the Borgata. But that was before the slots parlor opened at the old Philadelphia Park racetrack in Bensalem, Pa.
"I'm stopping going to Atlantic City," Blizard declared amid the rows of slot machines on the casino's second day of business last week.
Not only is PhiladelphiaPark Casino nice, she said, but when it comes down to it, "slots are slots, and it takes me 20 minutes to get here."
Gone are the days when Atlantic City monopolized gambling in the region. While it has had competitors in Connecticut and Delaware for years, it now faces new rivals in Pennsylvania and New York.
But you won't see Atlantic City shaking in its boots - not yet, anyway.
The city's gaming and tourism officials say nothing can truly compete with the destination resort they have shaped in the last three decades and its $5 billion casino industry.
Said Maureen Siman, vice president of marketing for the Atlantic City Convention and Visitor's Authority: "They are never going to catch up with Atlantic City in terms of the amenities and gaming choices we offer here and the customer base and loyalty that we have built over the years."
To the west, as many as 14 slot parlors are planned for Pennsylvania in the coming years, including the one in Bensalem, one launched last month in the Poconos, and two destined for Philadelphia. To the north, video-lottery terminals opened in October in Yonkers, N.Y., and plans are inching forward for a $600 million casino in the Catskills.
The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa will closely monitor the new developments, which it takes "very seriously as a viable competitor" that will likely steal "a certain level of business," said Michael Facenda, director of marketing services.
But he said he believed his casino and Atlantic City in general would continue to prosper because they offered "the full experience" - including tables games, the Boardwalk, shops, restaurants and shows.
Gaming analyst Robert LaFleur said his Susquehanna Financial Group in Bala Cynwyd predicted that Atlantic City gambling revenue would take about a 5 percent hit from the arrival of slots in Pennsylvania.
"We're talking about slot palaces vs. full-blown casinos," he said. "A trip to Atlantic City is much more experiential compared to what we call a convenience gaming fix."
Many gamblers apparently agree.
In the 2004 Atlantic City Visitor Profile - the most recent compiled by tourism officials - 89 percent of visitors surveyed said they would go as frequently even if a casino opened closer to their home. Nine percent said they would visit less often, while 2 percent said they would stop going.
Count retirees Charles and Catherine James, who live about a quarter-mile from Philadelphia Park, among that 2 percent.
"I won't go to Atlantic City anymore," said Catherine James, 63, as the couple checked out the park's new casino. "I would want to support our state - not New Jersey."
But 79-year-old Mickey Golding of Philadelphia, who was also trying out PhiladelphiaPark last week, said he would keep going to Atlantic City about twice a month - and not because he thinks the machine payouts are better there.
Atlantic City casinos reward the loyalty of longtime gamblers like Golding with comps - free rooms, meals, tickets to shows and other incentives based on how much they spend at the slots or table games.
"Down there, I get a lot of goodies," Golding said. "They treat me pretty good."
Lizzie Riggio, 64, of Philadelphia, said her loyalties, too, lay with Atlantic City.
"I like everything else they have to offer here, and I've been coming here since they opened," she said as she played the quarter slots at the Trumps Taj Mahal Casino Resort.
Marie Bergamo, 72, of Vineland, N.J., lives about equidistant from Philadelphia and Atlantic City, but likewise said she "can't see going to Philly to gamble."
"I just like it here," she said as she worked the progressive slots at Harrah's Atlantic City. "I have a lot of fond memories of the Shore, and I like to come here every chance I get."
Angelo Green, 54, of Philadelphia's Kensington section, said he checked out PhiladelphiaPark when it opened last week, but was back in Atlantic City the next morning, working the dollar slots at the Taj.
Green, who also likes to play blackjack and roulette, might "put in a few quarters" every now and then in a Philadelphia-area casino, but when he "really wants to do some real gambling," he said, he'll drive to Atlantic City.
Julia Sakson, a poker fan, agreed that slot parlors didn't measure up.
Within 24 hours last week, she was at PhiladelphiaPark twice, with a trip to Atlantic City in between.
While playing the penny slots during trip No. 2 to PhiladelphiaPark, the 21-year-old college student from Marlton, N.J., conceded that the place was "pretty decent."
But, she added, "they need to get some tables here - stat."
Citing patrons such as Sakson, Atlantic City casino and tourism officials said the PhiladelphiaParks of the world shouldn't hurt them too much.
In fact, they maintain that their "competition" might even help them.
Siman, of the Atlantic City Convention and Visitor's Authority, said she hoped the new slots parlors would expose more people to gambling, and get them thirsting for more.
"Gaming closer to home, they may see that it is a fun, cool thing to do, and then they will be more willing to make that drive down here," she said. |
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