Atlantic City Newsfeed

Assorted news items related to Atlantic City.

The Walk Announces Expansion Plans
Developers talks about plans for the fourth phase on construction on The Walk, to include entertainment venues to go along with the existing shops and restaurants.  See these article from the Press of Atlantic City:
The Walk to expand: 'Atlantic City has reinvented itself a couple of times, and it’s going to do it again'
CRDA agrees to build bathrooms, allowing expansion of the Walk

A Year Later, Atlantic City Smoking Ban Revisited
A little over a year after the brief smoking ban in Atlantic City was enacted and immediately repealed there has been some talk of whether City Council will again consider completely banning smoking from casino floors.  This doesn't like likely to change, given casinos falling revenues and concerns over a further loss of business from smoking patrons.  A recent article in the Press of Atlantic City and editorial from the Newark Star-Ledger are examples of the recent coverage.
Atlantic City to debate casino smoking ban again
Pass the Atlantic City casino smoking ban

Head of Pinnacle Atlantic City Project Transferred
Kim Townsend, who was to head the Pinnacle Atlantic City casino, on the former Sands site, is headed to St. Louis to run the company's Lumiere Place casino and hotel.  This article from the Press of Atlantic City says she will still "oversee the Atlantic City project".  At this point, there's nothing to see, so I guess we'll just have to play somewhere else for a little longer.
Pinnacle's Atlantic City CEO transfers to St. Louis casino

Will Pinnacle Lot Be Used for Parking?
Here's the latest speculation about the Pinnacle site, as there is now speculation the vacant lot might become a temporary parking lot.  I find it odd, however, that the Harrah's representative talks about the need for more parking in town when that company has been closing the Temple Garage at Caesars on weekdays for months.  I haven't had trouble finding a parking space anywhere in town any time in years.
Some Atlantic City officials eye Pinnacle lot as potential parking site

AirTran Expands Schedule From Atlantic City to Orlando
Over the summer AirTran started service to and from Orlando, Florida with weekend flights.  They will now off daily flights between those cities.
AirTran announces daily flights from Atlantic City to Florida


In other airport news, Pinky's column in this week's Atlantic City Weekly mentions an actual international flight from Atlantic City International Airport.  WestJet will begin service to and from Toronto
Planes, Trains and Floods

Resorts' Coin Droppers Likely Gone for Good
Resorts attempt to bring back coin-dropping slot machines was short lived, apparently because Resorts couldn't put together enough cash to fill the machines.  Specifically, they Eisenhower silver dollars that they used to fill the machines were in short supply and a lot of players kept their dollars rather than cashing them in at the casino.  Why Resorts didn't use dollar tokens instead is beyond me.
Coin-operated slot machines vanish again in Atlantic City

Resorts Takeover Delayed
Speaking of Resorts, the Casino Control Commission has delayed a vote to approve the takeover of that casino by creditors.
Vote delayed on Resorts' takeover by lenders

Smoking Ban to (Sort Of) Take Effect Soon

Atlantic City always seems to find a way to make the worst of a bad situation. A couple summers ago no one anticipated the effect of a statewide shutdown of government services on one of the state's most consistent sources of revenue. Thus, the casinos lost a few days of revenue during their key summer months, but more importantly, Atlantic City suffered a blow to its reputation in the eyes of potential visitors. As the city is in the midst of reinventing itself and making genuine improvements it found another way to stand in its own way. This time, City Council has managed to get the worst of both worlds in announcing a complete smoking ban and then reversing that ban just days before it was to go into effect.

The Press of Atlantic City reported this weekend that its heavily promoted smoking ban will last for only one week. Thus, the city's casino workers and non-smoking patrons will achieve none of the benefits that the ban set out to achieve, while just about all of the damage has already been done. Since there has been so much talk of the complete ban in casino circles many smokers have already started looking for other options, while casinos have already invested in lounges to accommodate smokers in their casino. The Press reported that Harrah's spend $7 million on these lounges, which will be unnecessary once the new delay for the ban is officially passed.

Atlantic City may have been ahead of the curve in outlawing smoking in their casinos or they may have been out of touch with their customers who expect smoking in the casinos. That point is up for debate. However, announcing a ban and then announcing the ban has been canceled serves only to upset folks on both side of the smoking debate. Whether a reprieve on the end of smoking on the casino floor gives the casinos a boost remains to be seen. As Pennsylvania and New York add more casinos, gas prices continue to rise, and the stock market continues to fall, it seems dubious to think this latest decision will have much of an impact on the profits of Atlantic City's casinos.