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Far East full house
ATLANTIC CITY -- The beef brisket and tendon lunch special at the Atlantic City Hilton casino is prepared in such a way that reminds Lorna Chen of her native China.
So much so that the real estate broker from Fort Lee, N.J., keeps coming back to the small casino and its Chinese noodle bar.
"It's the only place that knows how to make it," Chen said recently, as she was finishing her favorite dish before participating in a Texas hold em tournament just a few feet away in the new poker room.
The Atlantic City Hilton caters to gamblers, such as Chen -- loyal and not likely to do much more than gamble while they're in Atlantic City. The Asian demographic has been critical to the casino's rejuvenation.
The boutique casino, built and called the Golden Nugget by mogul Steve Wynn 25 years ago, has the smallest gambling floor and the city's second-smallest number of hotel rooms. But despite its size and location, the casino has been on a tear this year.
Nicknamed "The Jewel of Atlantic City," the Atlantic City Hilton is the last casino on the Boardwalk before million-dollar homes dotting Ventnor and Margate begin. It doesn't generate the kind of traffic that other gambling palaces, like Caesars and Bally's -- both in the center of the Boardwalk -- attract. But it's producing big revenue increases.
For June, the Atlantic City Hilton was the only one among the dozen casinos to post a double-digit revenue gain of 14 percent, according to figures released by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission on Monday. The casino also has had the highest year-to-date growth in gross gambling revenue at 21 percent, far ahead of second-place Showboat at 11.6 percent and Harrah's at 10 percent.
"We are gambling-centric, and we make no apologies about it," said Anthony Rodio, regional president for the AC Hilton and Resorts casinos.
Rodio, 47, who became president of the Atlantic City Hilton in May 2005, was promoted to regional president last May and now oversees both the Atlantic City Hilton and Resorts casinos. He attributed the Hilton's glowing numbers to aggressive marketing that "speaks to the heart of the gambler."
While the other major casinos in town owned by heavyweights like Donald Trump and Harrah's Entertainment Inc. have been building new retail and dining establishments, the Atlantic City Hilton has gone the opposite direction.
Last December, the casino moved its Asian gaming pit from the main floor to the second level next to a new 23-table poker room. The new 15-table Asian pit offers Baccarat, mini-Baccarat, Pai Gow Tiles and Pai Gow -- games which are very popular among Asians.
"I've heard nothing but positive things about the changes," Rodio said. "The proof is in the numbers."
Central to the casino's growth strategy is tending to the needs of its core Asian customers. The Atlantic City Hilton was one of the first casinos in New Jersey to offer a bus program from New York's Chinatown begin
ning in 1991, and has been an industry leader in Asian bus marketing. Buses leave New York anywhere from 15 to 20 times a day for the casino. Seven buses come from New York's Chinatown. The rest depart from Brooklyn, the Port Authority bus terminal in Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx.
In June, the Hilton took in $28.6 million in total revenue. Of that, $19.6 million came from slots, and $8.9 million from table games. But table games revenue is growing at a much faster pace than slots - increasing 27.2 percent from the same month a year ago. Slots revenue increased 8.9 percent.
Rodio said about 20 percent of the casino's table games revenue and about 3 percent of its slots revenue came from Asian customers. In addition, nearly one out of every five employees at the casino, or 18 percent, are of Asian descent.
Colony Capital LLC purchased the Atlantic City Hilton and another casino in Mississippi from Caesars Entertainment Inc. for a total of $612 million, just prior to the company being acquired by Harrah's Entertainment Inc. last summer. The purchase gave Colony, which already owned Resorts on the Boardwalk, two properties in the nation's second-largest gambling market after Las Vegas. Last June, the company installed a new management team with Rodio at the helm and Phil Juliano, as regional senior vice president of marketing.
Last December, the casino became the first in Atlantic City to put a billboard written all in Chinese on the Atlantic City Expressway to announce the opening of its new Asian pit, called Treasure Palace. It also buys advertisements in New York newspapers and other publications that are written in Chinese.
"We know it's a growing market, so we're paying attention to all the new nuances that you have to know about that culture," said Juliano, 58.
The Atlantic City Hilton's success with Asian gamblers hasn't gone unnoticed. Other casinos are aggressively going after them. The Trump Taj Mahal will open its new Asian pit today and a noodle bar next Friday.
Last month, Caesars unveiled Palace East, a $15 million Asian-themed gambling area, with an elaborate ceremony on the Boardwalk featuring a traditional Chinese lion dance. Showboat opened an Asian pit and noodle bar in March, and Bally's casino will open one in February.
"Everybody is looking at Asian gaming as the demographic to go after," said George Toth, president of the Sands Casino Hotel.
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