Since we’re heavily occupied today with “Question of the Day” submissions, Sports Betting Operator features, a CDC Gaming Reports story and Casino Life page proofs, we’ll turn most of the S&G space over to our East Coast bureau, who has a variety of reports …
Above is the Bally’s Atlantic City slot floor, seen last Monday. Yes, the casino was open. Below is their ‘high limit slot’ room, with one customer seen cashing out a ticket.
“Saturday, we were desperate for food and went to their (alleged) VIP lounge. The chef was still making the ‘chef’s choice’ appetizer and seemed to have put two slivers of meat in the tiny bowl. I think their ‘chef’ should be sent to Chicago ASAP to start planning the menus there.”
Perhaps Bally’s Corp. could also send its spine-chilling Boardwalk security force (below) to the Windy City as well:
So why does our documentarian keep patronizing such an obviously subpar casino? Masochism? No, promotions …
“For this month, they doubled my wife’s gift card/slot play. We’re making a day trip again this Thursday for the $300 gift card, and will be staying there this coming weekend. Even ‘better news’: Hard Rock Atlantic City offered her two comp tickets for Wayne Newton this coming weekend. Unfortunately, he lost his voice about 15 years ago, as we saw him at the Stardust. At that time she said we should ask for our money back. Since we got the two-for-one tickets in Las Vegas, that didn’t work.”
Our friend spent the two night previous staying at Ocean Casino Resort, the opposite side of the coin. “At both Ocean and Hard Rock, both were quite crowded. You would not know it was ‘off season’ in January. On the other hand, Bally’s was only ‘moderately’ busy.” Ocean continues to struggle with its architecture, as the above photo of a lounge outside its elevator bay shows. The use of space has been a bone of contention since back when Ocean was Revel (remember that?) and it seems no closer to resolution.
“When Hard Rock calls, they will come,” our correspondent resumes. “For two nights, it had Earth, Wind & Fire perform. On Monday (Jan. 2) afternoon, we went to Hard Rock for their players’ club brunch. (If you look at the Bally’s brunch items and delete the beef, and add a pear salad, and toaster for bread and bagels, you have Hard Rock’s brunch every weekend, not once a year like Bally’s. Hard Rock added Monday for their brunch because of it being a holiday weekend.”
“On New Years Day we again had a choice of going to Bally’s (where we were staying) with a brunch until 2 p.m. or go to Golden Nugget (until 1 p.m.) and print out a voucher with an ‘assigned time.’ It was easier to just go downstairs at Bally’s, where there was a very minor wait time to take people to a table. It was located in their ‘not really famous’ VIP lounge. Their (alleged) VIP lounge normally takes up approximately 50% of the total lounge, thanks to ‘olde Caesars”‘ceiling-mounted curtains. For New Years Day, they moved the curtains to double the size of the space.”
“It was generally a good experience: two omelette stations, standard eggs, bacon, sausage, salmon, fruit, chicken, beef, desserts, etc. Unlike New Year’s Eve, Bally’s employees handled the event (easy to tell: whatever you asked for took a while). Two people at our table asked everyone at our table what drinks they wanted, and went to the bar and got them. Bally’s provided a singer at a piano, which was nice.
“Since that time, we found out that Golden Nugget served food buffet style, and it included steak filet and lobster tails! If we have the same choice next year, we will come early and it will be Golden Nugget instead. The Grand photo (above) is from Nugget the following day.
“Finally, I must ‘trip the midget’ once again. At Bally’s high-limit-slot room, the only way to get a drink is to ask the security guard to call. While picking up our car from Bally’s valet, I really didn’t care that the employee just gave her two weeks notice. And one Sunday when we took the car out to go elsewhere, the valet intake closes at 5 p.m. Sunday until the following Friday, very inconvenient when you have to take your luggage to self-park.
It’s taken Arizona until now to report October sports betting numbers. Get with it, guys! Revenue was $48 million on handle of $617.5 million, which reflects poor hold. $18.5 million of the net went back to players in the form of promotions and free bets. Although there are 18 operators in the state, only four of them account for 94% of the revenue. FanDuel was the clear leader, with $20 million. DraftKings came next with $11 million, then BetMGM‘s $10 million and Caesars Sportsbook‘s $4 million. What’s $4 million divided 14 ways among the other operators? Not damn much, that’s what.
Quote of the Day: “Shut up, please! I can beat you up. And I’m serious.”—action-film empress Michelle Yeoh, in reaction to being played off (unsuccessfully) halfway through her Golden Globes acceptance speech. The Globes were rather capricious with the hook, cutting many honorees short but allowing Jennifer Coolidge to ramble repeatedly, seemingly for hours.
