By JENNIFER BOGDAN Staff Writer
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With days to go before Atlantic Club Casino Hotel shuts its doors for the last time, competing casinos are continuing attempts to lure customers to other Atlantic City properties.
Saturday will mark the final night that Atlantic Club will accept hotel guests with check-out concluding at 11 a.m. Sunday. Gambling will continue throughout Sunday with betting cut off at midnight as 1,600 employees will be left without jobs.
Atlantic Club has been left with just days to operate following the casino’s $23.4 million sale at bankruptcy auction to Caesars Entertainment Corp. and Tropicana Entertainment Inc. The sale marking the lowest price ever paid for an Atlantic City casino leaves Tropicana with the casino’s gaming machines and customer data and Caesars with the building.
Caesars has no intentions of operating the property but hasn’t yet announced what its fate will be. The company has made few public statements since the sale was announced.
Kevin Ortzman, senior vice president and general manager for Caesars, Bally’s and Showboat, however, recently issued a statement calling on Atlantic Club customers to consider Caesars’ four Atlantic City properties. The company is offering to match Atlantic Club players’ cards with the property’s Total Rewards program, and match Atlantic Club coupons beginning Monday.
Meanwhile Tropicana made a similar appeal, but is in a unique position to attract Atlantic Club customers, in part because it purchased Atlantic Club’s database enabling it to send mailers and e-mail to Atlantic Club players.
“We have more insight into their customers than anyone else,” Tropicana President and CEO Tony Rodio said. “We know what they like to play, the days they like to come, and we’ve hired people who know some of their best customers.”
Four player development executives from Atlantic Club have been hired by Tropicana. Rodio said he would like to see Tropicana take on more Atlantic Club employees, but that is difficult in the winter months as the resort’s business slows.
Rodio cited Tropicana’s proximity to Atlantic Club, its employees’ experience and the familiarity players will have with the equipment as other reasons he believes Tropicana will pick up more Atlantic Club customers.
Following the shutdown of Atlantic Club, the gambling equipment must be removed from the facility within 10 business days, Rodio said. Within another three to four weeks the machines should be up and running again. Tropicana is particularly interested in roughly 900 slot machines that are three years old or newer and can replace some of the property’s aging stock, Rodio said.
Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, Golden Nugget Atlantic City and Resorts Casino Hotel have all announced promotions to attract Atlantic Club customers.
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