Atlantic City is Changing the Strategy: Focus Put on Non-Gambling Tourism

Many of the casinos in Atlantic City increase their investments in non-gambling attractions in the struggle for greater revenues.

One of the most common titles we could read on the online casino sites in the past few months was that Atlantic City is dying. Taking into consideration the situation with the resort city in the Atlantic County, sceptic’s prognosis about its future development were far from bright. However, as gambling news report, the city is now trying to implement fully a strategy that was suggested almost nine years ago: if you like more visitors, then offer them some extra-gambling activities!

Non-gambling attractions in Atlantic City on the rise

The current trend in Atlantic City is to increase the investment in additional, extra-gambling content. New hotels, swimming pools, high-class spas, luxurious shopping centers, exclusive nightclubs, are just some of the new attraction that will soon be put forward on any tourist brochure of the city. The figures that the Tourist Economics consultancy presented say that 28.5% of the revenues of the casinos come from their non-gambling outlets. The bars also increased their incomes to almost 39 % in comparison to the past two years.

• Atlantic City increases non-gambling investments
• People chose casinos according to the extra-gambling offer
• Non-gambling investments important but not decisive

This idea of adding some extra content to what was previously known as one of the biggest casino resorts in the US, can be well illustrated by many examples of “business transformation.” One of them is the USD 52 million renovation of the ex-Pier Shop complex into a great music-themed entertainment facility. The central part of the newly build complex is the so called T-street, seeded with specific music-themed bars and performance venues offering content for any taste. The outdoor beer garden, Irish pubs, concert halls from more than 2,000 visitors, sports bar for fantasy games fans are just additional pieces in the reconstruction of the mosaic that are supposed to revive the economy of the city. As online gambling sites in the US report, the investments in these kind of facilities in the next few years as expected to be drastically increased.

Is this investment change coming as something natural in the economic development of Atlantic City? According to Tony Rodio, president of the Tropicana casino and a long time Atlantic City casino executive, what the city needed in the past was only casinos, since the demand was far bigger than the supply. However the situation now is changed. To many visitors a “casino only offer” sounds boring. They want more. And what the analysis of the revenues in the past years showed to him is that the gambling and non-gambling revenues of Tropicana are coming more and closer to each other. This is especially the case after he invested in the building of The Quarter, an architectural attraction which evokes Old Havana, with indoor palm trees and traditional Spanish interior-designs.

Will the non-gambling investments in Atlantic City have positive effects?

Plenty of companies see this trend as something positive for the economic development of the Atlantic City, but say that it is somehow a bit too late. Even with the extra content that the city is using to attract visitors and incomes, the fact remains that the revenues continue to decline. According to online gambling news in the US, the total casino revenues of the City continue to fall from the 2006 culmination of USD 5.2 billion to USD 2.74 billion due to the stabile competition from the neighboring states casinos. Due to this decline four of the twelve casinos in the city were obliged to stop their activities.

In a poll conducted past June by the Fairleigh Dickinson University more than 40 % of the participants responded that non-gambling attractions are the most important factor for them in choosing a casino to visit. However the figures show that the extras are definitely helping, but they are not crucial, or at least that they are not the only reason why some casinos have bigger revenues. If the eight casino still functioning on the market increase their revenues in the year to come, than part of the rise will be due to the reduced competition and the increased market share. But which one of them will take the biggest piece is something according to many executive of the casino will be determined by the extra gambling content that each of them will offer.