A touch of Las Vegas is heading east: Atlantic City on July 3rd will open its first casino in 13 years, a billion-dollar tower that dominates the landscape of a faded New Jersey seashore town in need of rejuvenation.
The 43-story Borgata brings Las Vegas luxury touches to a gambling center that matches the Nevada boomtown in visitors, but has stayed in its shadow for lack of glamour and fame.
Borgata could change that with its 2,002 marble and wood-lined rooms, 11 restaurants overseen by famous chefs, expensive shops and theaters, and even high-speed Internet for conventioneers.
But it's not easy to open a casino, even in a town that never sleeps. Las Vegas's newest casino, the Aladdin, went bankrupt in 2001, a year after it opened, and Atlantic City's own Taj Mahal went bankrupt in 1991, also a year after starting up. Meanwhile, sparkling American Indian-run casinos are drawing crowds in Connecticut, challenging Atlantic City.
"The logical extension of Atlantic City occurred in Connecticut," said Bob Boughner, head of the Borgata, which is a joint venture between Boyd Gaming and MGM Mirage, two big casino companies new to the city.
In a recent interview, Boughner blamed Atlantic City's dry spell on casino operators whom he said failed to "reinvent" the city. "They gave it a coat of paint and a clever ad campaign," he said. "That is not going to work
any more."
Gambling and Not Much Anything Else
Atlantic City and Las Vegas each draw about 35 million visitors annually. Las Vegas, however, brings in more money, with hotels, food and shows that provide about half the revenue for upscale properties and keep gamblers in town longer.
Outside the casinos in Atlantic City, the biggest attraction is the boardwalk along the beach, but the sand dunes are held together by partially visible rubber forms, and the sight of boarded-up houses temper the feeling
of nostalgia.
The Borgata is not the only new development, though.
There's also a new convention center, shopping and other casinos that, along with the Borgata, will add about 4,000 rooms - a 35 percent increase - between 2001 and 2005.
Standard & Poor's analyst Craig Parmelee predicted good business for the Borgata, which he said could weather some bad times thanks to a relatively light debt load and two strong backers.
Rivals Park Place Entertainment and Harrah's Entertainment could feel a pinch, though, he said.
Investment bank Thomas Weisel Partners said the Taj brought new visitors to the city in 1990, but also sucked business from rivals, whose profits took two years to recover.
Park Place spokesman Robert Stewart said he expected the impact of Borgata to die down in a month or two, and all casinos should benefit from the new crowd it draws.
"They are going after a younger market," he said, "and they are going after people who have said no to Atlantic City in the past." 바카라사이트
Harrah's Chief Executive Gary Loveman also said the market would expand, and his company would do well despite new competition. He compared his modest casino in Las Vegas with the marble-clad Bellagio. "In all of Las Vegas, the casino with the highest win per unit is Harrah's Las Vegas," he said, "and it certainly did not cost as much as the Bellagio."