By Roger Gros   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Toward the end of every September in pre-casino Atlantic City, a bitter old joke would make the rounds: “Last one out of town, turn out the lights.”

And it wasn’t far from the truth. Atlantic City in those days was a 10-week economy. Most businesses struggled to make their nut during those weeks. July, August and the first two weeks of September, culminating with the Miss America Pageant, was the most important time of the year. Locals said it best: “Three months of hurry; nine months of worry.” Most workers collected unemployment in the off-season. It was a dire situation for most Atlantic City residents and businesses, with little hope for improvement.

The solution was apparent. With Nevada the only legal U.S. gaming jurisdiction, the history of quasi-legal casinos in Atlantic City provided some hope. After all, the gambling clubs that called Atlantic City home during the 1930s and ’40s helped make this city the entertainment capital of the East Coast. Investigations in the 1950s by Senator Estes Kefauver led to a crackdown and effectively ended the games, not only in Atlantic City but also in other gambling towns like Biloxi, Mississippi; North Covington, Kentucky; Steubenville, Ohio, and others.

Simple Answers

So when it came time to revitalize Atlantic City, gaming was a logical, if not the only, choice.

After the back-room gambling halls shut down, Atlantic City’s plight got even worse. The 1964 Democratic National Convention produced some historic American political drama (including Robert F. Kennedy’s speech just nine months after his brother’s assassination). It also exposed Atlantic City for exactly what it was: a second-class resort on the decline.

The first hint that gaming could be the solution came in 1968, when the New Jersey Assembly held hearings considering the introduction of legalized gaming. Every member of law enforcement who testified agreed that legalized casinos would be impossible to police—except for one: Essex County Prosecutor Brendan Byrne.

“I discovered that you couldn’t stamp out gambling, so I thought why not legalize it and make the state a partner in the gambling operation?” said the future governor of New Jersey.

But there were several problems with that scenario. First, the current governor would not approve gaming under any circumstances. And the only legal gaming jurisdiction in the United States at that time was Nevada, whose reputation was, shall we say, less than stellar. New Jersey itself had something of a sullied background. It was widely regarded as one of the most corrupt states in the country. And Atlantic City itself wasn’t squeaky clean, either.

“The political leadership in Atlantic City was going to jail and would continue going to jail,” says Steven Perskie, now a Superior Court judge, then a freshman assemblyman. “So the idea of bringing casinos to Atlantic City was to take an industry with an unsavory background, that couldn’t be financed without mob-related union money, and putting it into the most corrupt city of the most corrupt state in the nation. So that idea didn’t fly very well.”

Nonetheless, as a candidate for governor in 1973, Byrne supported the idea of legalized casinos for Atlantic City. His election provided a window for Perskie. But political realities soon hit home.

“We discovered,” says Perskie, “that we couldn’t get a gaming bill passed without including some of the other communities that needed help as well.” So the referendum put before the voters in November 1974 held out the option that gambling could be approved for any town in the state, if that town and the county in which is was to be located voted for it. Byrne did not support it. He wanted a bill that would benefit only Atlantic City.

The referendum failed by a large margin, mostly because New Jersey residents didn’t mind helping Atlantic City, but didn’t want casinos in their backyards.

Second Chances

After the loss in ’74, Atlantic City Mayor Joseph Lazarow organized the Committee to Rebuild Atlantic City, or CRAC.

“Atlantic City at that time was no different than it is today,” says Perskie. “In those days, you could not get any three people in a room to agree on anything. Yet on this issue, you had the commercial, hotel, union, racial and political leadership of both parties united on how to approach it. In 1976, we realized this was not only a second chance, it was likely our last chance. To my amazement, it worked. Around that table from April to November, everybody behaved. After the referendum, everything went back to normal.”

For Perskie, the second referendum was successful because they learned from mistakes made the first time around. “Since we had been asked all kinds of questions about the casino industry during the ’74 campaign—how would it be controlled, what games would be offered, who would oversee the casino and the like—questions we could not answer—we decided to write the Casino Control Act before the ’76 campaign began so we’d have all the answers,” he says.

Pressure to get the casinos open began to mount immediately after the election. “The very day after the referendum passed,” says Dan Heneghan, now pubic information officer for the Casino Control Commission, but for 15 years the main gaming reporter for the Atlantic City Press, “we got a call at the newspaper from the Associated Press asking us where the first casino was located.”

Locals had a little more patience than the AP… but not much. “There was quite a bit of pressure to get these casinos open,” says former Senator Bill Gormley, then a freshman assemblyman. “It soon became apparent that the casino would be ready long before the investigation was over, so we had to amend the Casino Control Act to provide for temporary licenses.”

The initial investigation process was somewhat convoluted, mostly because it had never been done before, even in Nevada, where licensing was a much less complicated affair. But in April, a temporary license was approved for Resorts and on Memorial Day weekend, the dice began to roll.

Byrne made headlines that day when he warned organized crime to “keep your filthy hands off Atlantic City, and stay the hell out of our state.”

Today, he believes that goal was met. “I knew that with the State Police under Clinton Pagano, I could introduce casino gambling without the influence of organized crime,” says Byrne. “Everybody laughed at me. But there was no reason we couldn’t do it, and we did. It was such a big business that reputable people wanted to get involved to keep organized crime out.”

The permanent license for Resorts International, which had bought and renovated the former Chalfonte/Haddon Hall, was a bit more difficult. The Division of Gaming Enforcement had recommended against it, citing 17 deficiencies. G. Michael “Mickey” Brown conducted the state’s case against Resorts before the commission.

“There was never any pressure on me to go easy on Resorts,” he says. “There may have been pressure on members of the commission, but it was a social pressure to get this thing started. There was concern that we’d kill it before it got started.”

Later that year, Resorts was granted a license by a 5-0 vote. The opening of Resorts was followed one year later by Caesars Boardwalk Regency (now Caesars Atlantic City) in the renovated Howard Johnson’s Hotel. Later that year, Bally’s opened, followed in 1980 by the Brighton (later the Sands), Harrah’s and the Golden Nugget.

Licensing issues complicated the opening of most of the casinos, as the state Division of Gaming Enforcement and Casino Control Commission began to sort out procedures and the balance of power in the regulatory scheme in Atlantic City.

Business Bust

The passage of the referendum in 1976 found many Atlantic City business owners dancing in the streets. Whether it was the golden goose or the streets paved with gold, each expected to profit from the introduction of casino gaming. But the largesse flowing from the casinos largely missed the businesses of Atlantic City.

For one, restaurants that expected to get some spillover from the casinos were sadly disappointed when virtually no casino customers ventured away from the casinos to eat. After all, the casinos provided gourmet dining; there was no need to leave the properties. Some of the city’s most venerable restaurants—Kent’s, Hackney’s, Starns, Carson’s—all closed soon after casinos were introduced.

Other businesses such as furniture stores, auto dealers, department stores and others followed the people. Most new employees of Atlantic City casinos had decided to settle on the mainland, not in Atlantic City. The growth that some had forecasted for Atlantic City was realized in Atlantic County and beyond.

Steve Batzer, who became the most knowledgeable insurance expert in the gaming business and was president of the Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce for several years in the early 1980s, explains why most businesses didn’t make it.

“Many people believed that by merely being in Atlantic City, you were going to participate in the upside of casino gaming,” he says. “In fact, that wasn’t the case. There were a few people who were very fortunate because they owned land in a critical place and made a fortune by selling it, but the businesses that became successful really had to work at becoming businesses the gaming industry could really count on. In the early years, there was a commitment to using local businesses but in many cases, they just weren’t qualified to handle accounts the size of the casinos.

“I was very fortunate to be associated with what was then a national insurance brokerage that already did business with casinos in Las Vegas. So we very rapidly had the capacity and ability to ramp up to handle gaming accounts. But it wasn’t as easy as everyone thought it was going to be. You had to work hard at it.”

Mac Seelig, now president of AC Coin & Slot, a major slot machine manufacturer and distributor, discovered quickly how difficult it was to make a mark in the gaming industry.

“When we first started seeing the vast amounts of people coming into Resorts,” he says, “we were like a deer in the headlights. We didn’t know what to expect. For the perspective of local businesses, it was a shock. The simple volume of money and orders was overwhelming. We had never dealt with purchase orders or change orders. And some big businesses were coming in and running us over.”

But the expectations were never met, according to Seelig. “We expected to be treated differently, to be spoon-fed,” he says. “And the casinos didn’t have time to do that. It was a big business, after all, but it led to some dissatisfaction.”

Seelig soon discovered a way in. As a vending machine supplier along with his wife Kay, he wanted to expand his business into the casinos. But since his business concerned coins going into machines, he figured out a more logical way to do business with casinos.

“We had a vision of what the gaming industry was going to become in Atlantic City, as a family,” he says. “It was just a logical step for us and we were fortunate.”

Promises Promises

The campaign to legalize gaming in Atlantic City included several predictions about what it would mean for the city. In 1976, a study commisioned by CRAC estimated that by 1985, casinos would generate the following:

• 33,690 new jobs, including 24,600 in casino hotels (today, more than 50,000 jobs have been created in casino hotels alone)

• $844 million in new construction (today, more than $5 billion in new and renovated buildings—and growing rapidly—have been built)

• $330 million in payroll (today, more than $1.4 billion is paid out annually) One thing gaming did not do was to solve the unemployment problem in Atlantic City.

State Senator James Whelan, who served two terms on the City Council of Atlantic City in the 1980s before being elected mayor in 1990, says no one realized that it wasn’t enough just to offer jobs.

“Atlantic City was no different than any other urban center experiencing the decay that most cities were at that time,” he says. “Despite all our efforts, it was impossible to cut into the unemployment rate significantly enough to make a difference.”

While Atlantic City itself languished, the mainland boomed. New housing developments, shopping centers, movie theaters (which had fled Atlantic City) and other businesses sprung up to service a population that dramatically increased during those early years. Egg Harbor Township grew so fast, it almost outstripped the highways and school systems.

The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority was formed in 1984 to address the needs in Atlantic City that had gone unanswered. The CRDA (or “creeda” as it was dubbed) immediately set about building desperately needed housing in the city. The slums of the North Inlet were the first target, and in a remarkably short period of time, the entire neighborhood was leveled and rebuilt. Because the elevation had to be raised to avoid flooding, the cost of each home averaged more than $250,000. They were sold at a loss for about $170,000.

“The formation of the CRDA was an important milestone in Atlantic City,” says Whelan. “It’s been a tool that we’ve been able to use to bring some of the promise of casino gaming to the city.”

Gormley says the CRDA was one of the most important pieces of legislation ever passed related to gaming. After the housing issue eased, he says bills passed in the 1990s were able to capitalize on the promise of the CRDA.

“We were able to use the CRDA to take Atlantic City to the next level,” he says. “If we didn’t pass the room credit bill and build a few towers, with about 4,000 to 5,000 rooms total, we wouldn’t have been ready for the next generation of hotels. And if we hadn’t done the entertainment zone bill, where would we be? We wouldn’t have the Walk. We wouldn’t have the Quarter. We wouldn’t have the Pier. We would be nowhere.”

Lean Years

The hustle and bustle of new casinos opening in Atlantic City masked the indifference—and at times outright hostility—of state officials toward Atlantic City. Whelan said it wasn’t just the state.

 “Even U.S. Senator Bill Bradley would have nothing to do with us,” Whelan says.

The decision to deny a license to the internationally known and respected Hilton Hotels Corporation threw a chill on the investment prospects of the city. And by the time the last casino of the decade opened—Showboat, in 1987—the chill had turned to ice.

Governor Tom Kean, who had blithely lasted nearly two terms without so much as a nod toward Atlantic City (with the possible exception of the legislation creating the CRDA), suddenly noticed the malaise enveloping the city. Probably the most important gaming decision of the Kean administration was to appoint former state Senator Frank “Pat” Dodd as a member of the Casino Control Commission.

Dodd didn’t waste much time. He immediately began to investigate the way the commission did business and found some immediate problems. “Something as simple as fingerprinting,” he says. “There was a huge delay in getting people licensed, which required taking fingerprints. I found out that only two retired state police officers were doing the fingerprinting so the appointments were backed up three weeks. We resolved that one quickly.”

Other things didn’t go so quickly, but when a new governor took office, Camden’s Jim Florio, he made streamlining the casino industry a priority and appointed former state Senator Steve Perskie his chief of staff.

A year later, Perskie became chairman of the commission and instituted revolutionary changes that transformed the commission from an adversary to a partner. Perskie and his successors took the time to meet with Wall Street investment bankers to give them the facts about the New Jersey regulatory process.

Today, CCC Chairwoman Linda Kassekert considers this part of her job. “I don’t consider us cheerleaders for the gaming industry,” says Kassekert, “but I believe it is our responsibility to inform investors about how we regulate the industry, and why we should be considered fair and business-friendly.”

But still Atlantic City languished because of doubts about the stability of the regulatory and political systems, and mostly because of a lack of hotel rooms and convention facilities.

“We needed two facilities,” Gormley explains, “a convention center and a special events arena. And if we moved the convention center to where it is today, we could bring the rail line back, which we could not have done otherwise. So it was a no-brainer.”

But it wasn’t until Gormley introduced a bill to offer CRDA tax credits to casinos that built more rooms, then designated “entertainment zones” to encourage the construction of non-gaming amenities, that things began to move again.

“We had to be creative to get this thing moving,” he says. “The room credits, the zoning and the infrastructure improvements we made—like the tunnel—started the ball rolling. Now all we have to do is keep the tax situation stable, and Atlantic City will boom.”

New Dawn, New Day

After 30 years, there is still a lot to be done in Atlantic City. In retrospect, however, some believe that the promise of casino gaming has been fulfilled in a uniquely Atlantic City way.

Perskie explains why it’s a two-part answer. “When you look at the data we published about what would happen if you passed casino gaming in New Jersey, we surpassed it by so much, it’s laughable,” he says. “So we dramatically underestimated the economic power of gaming on Atlantic City. We weren’t even close.

“In terms of what we really had in mind, which was to redevelop the infrastructure and tourism industry in Atlantic City, there’s again two different answers. Did we, over the 30 years, come as far and as fast as we could? The answer is categorically no. The industry fulfilled its obligation by coming into Atlantic City, investing money and running an honest shop. But government did not. Government in Atlantic City did not, government in Trenton did not. At least until the 1990s, when things started to change.

“In 2008, we have to admit that we have come a long way, but also recognize we have a long way to go.”

Whelan believes that a lot has been accomplished, but there will always be more to do.

“I always use the analogy that in 1976, the diving horse was a great gimmick, but after 30 years, it wasn’t so fresh anymore,” he says. “If you’re in the tourist business, you have to constantly change. Las Vegas understands this, and so should we.”

Dennis Gomes, former president of the Tropicana and Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City and the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, believes the Vegas experience will help Atlantic City when it comes to regional competition. Because Las Vegas was not hurt by California gaming, he doesn’t believe Atlantic City will ultimately be hurt either.

“Las Vegas is the mecca of gaming and Atlantic City is the mecca of gaming on the East Coast,” says Gomes. “So the more believers there are, the more people will want to go to mecca.”

Dodd says government has to get out of the way regarding decisions made for Atlantic City and let the people who run the businesses make the decisions.

“Take the rail line, for example,” he explains. “If we used the money that has been invested so far, we could have bought everyone who has ever ridden the rail line a brand new Volkswagen.”

Byrne says the non-gaming amenities that have recently become such a big part of Atlantic City is the right way to go.

“Atlantic City has to make casino gambling part of the overall entertainment package,” he says. “That’s how Atlantic City will survive and prosper. States that offer just gambling and casinos on their own are not doing as well and won’t be as successful in the long run.”

Batzer hopes that the current construction in Atlantic City will be its salvation. “If the four or five major projects that are on the drawing board get up and open,” he says, “Atlantic City will be just fine. And we don’t have to be just a regional destination. I think Atlantic City can be much more. Given its demographics and access to European markets, Atlantic City can be much more.”

Gormley says a little thing like one-way traffic on Pacific Avenue can make a huge difference, but overall there needs to be cooperation between all interests in Atlantic City, as there was in the beginning.

“I’m excited about the future because there’s so much upside potential,” says Gormley. “It’s a matter of integrity. If we can emulate what happened in 1976 where certain personalities were set aside, a lot can be accomplished.”

By Sharon Harris-Zlotnick   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

In the 1970s, Atlantic City’s casinos resembled high-rise office towers that housed gaming floors, sleeping rooms, showrooms and a garage fronted by a glitzy porte-cochere. Thirty years later, visitors now see innovative design in the city’s new towers, retail complexes and entertainment halls.

“In the early days, the casino was king and non-gaming amenities were irrelevant,” says Jeffrey Vasser, executive director of the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority. “That changed when 1990s Casino Control Chairman Steve Perskie advocated Atlantic City’s growth beyond a one-dimensional town.”

Following the 1989 opening of the Mirage in Las Vegas, exciting architecture became critical to attracting customers. “Theming” took hold; casinos soon replicated everything from Manhattan and Venice to Paris and ancient Egypt.

Atlantic City did not want to appear dated; Joe Emanuele, vice president of Friedmutter Group, credits former Mayor Jim Whelan and the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority for providing capital investment funds for the construction of new gaming facilities. Trump Taj Mahal, which cost a then-staggering $1 billion, opened in 1990. Bally’s Wild Wild West, which opened in 1997, “has been a huge success for the investment,” says Emanuele.

Since 2000, architects have also incorporated international flair when designing non-gaming amenities. Under California lead architect WATG, SOSH Architects in Atlantic City collaborated on the Quarter, recreating 1950s Havana glamour. Located inside the Tropicana, the $280 million dining and retail complex opened in November 2004.

SOSH Principal Tom Sykes urges casinos to offer more exciting experiences like Spice Road, the Taj Mahal’s new shopping/dining/retail promenade.

“In a maturing market, Atlantic City casinos have needed an edge,” he says. “We transformed them from the ‘grind mentality’ of bringing the day crowd to providing rooms, retail, dining and entertainment options to motivate multi-night stays.”

Friedmutter has worked extensively with Harrah’s projects. Emanuele says, “We knew the Borgata was coming and began using curved blue glass in the Harrah’s Bayview Tower. The design, like the new Waterfront Tower, which opened this past March, is contemporary and international. Warm colors provide a timeless feel and look. We were also the architect of record for Showboat’s House of Blues renovation.”

Another Friedmutter project, the Trump Taj Mahal’s new tower, will open on Labor Day weekend.

The Borgata’s Water Club at Renaissance Pointe, mirroring the first tower’s gold and glass façade, debuts in June. Both buildings have modern architectural elements that stand out among Atlantic City’s many other high-rise hotel towers.

Sykes hopes future casino architecture in the city forges an identity of its own. “The proliferation of gaming throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia has created too much uniformity. The next wave of casino architecture should celebrate the special nature of each locale. Atlantic City mistakenly began its foray into gaming by blowing up its history, and must now struggle for its identity.”

Emanuele expects a growing “international ambience” in casino design. “As gaming becomes more mainstream, subtle themes will have a more enduring quality… transporting customers to places they have only dreamed of.”

Friedmutter Vice President Patrick Malia says future casinos will also incorporate green technology. “Casinos present numerous possibilities for conservation, including the reuse of water and waste products plus employing solar power and designating parking for electric cars.”

By Dave Bontempo   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Casinos revolutionized the Atlantic City sports landscape and kept the world’s top boxers, promoters and high rollers cavorting down Pacific Avenue. The process created stars and launched a multimillion-dollar revenue stream. Throughout the ’80s, casinos made Atlantic City the unquestioned boxing capital of the world. It was the first city to use boxing as a means of identifying itself. Boxing underscored Atlantic City’s gaming challenge to Las Vegas, with casinos defining the terms. The sport ascended when properties wanted it to, retreated when the market matured and makes cameo re-entries whenever casinos deem fit.

Three stages mark the journey. During the euphoric ’80s, Atlantic City, worldwide television networks and boxing enriched each other. Peaks included a still-unmatched record of 136 fight cards in 1982, The Donald’s wallet and the emergence of heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.

Then came the valleys. Stage two included the early ’90s drop-off caused by the economy, the nationwide spread of gaming and the closing of Boardwalk Hall for renovation.

The comeback—today’s phase—is marked by occasional strategic big events as boxing shares the stage with other sports. It’s been quite a ride, as boxing and gaming remain a formidable one-two financial punch.

Baptism

Ventnor-based entrepreneur Frank Gelb first tapped into the gold mine. Having promoted several pre-casino events, he secured a national television date and headlined fighters. He had a good feeling about the future of Atlantic City boxing when he entered the office of Tibor Rudas, Resorts’ entertainment head, in the early 1980s.

“I had something I thought he would kill for, and he threw me out,” Gelb recalls. “He did not want boxing in his showroom. Fortunately, he came around.”

Atlantic City entered the boxing era by strategically branding itself, often paying six figures for what was called a “site fee.” Nationally televised bouts offered subliminal advertising via ring posts, strategically placed banners and datelines.

Boxing benefited from the situation. Suddenly, money existed for top fights. Early stars included Matthew Saad Muhammad, Michael Spinks, Tim Witherspoon and Jeff Chandler. Their title bouts were significant because boxing only had two sanctioning bodies: the World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council. That figure would later balloon to nearly 10.

While the money flowed, every casino used boxing to recruit customers. The Tropicana unfurled an unprecedented weekly Tuesday night boxing card that brought Pennsylvania bus groups into town for an evening of fights and casino play. The gambit worked for more than three years before it finally burned out.

Bally’s proved that less is more by making excellent buying decisions. Playboy enjoyed some success, but gamblers left the fight and took elevators to the street without crossing the gaming floor. The casino’s poor design, with entertainment in one building and gaming in another, hampered post-fight play and later forced the casino out of business.

The Sands, meanwhile, created its “casino heroes.” Trenton lightweight Ken Bogner and Philadelphia middleweight Frank “The Animal” Fletcher nearly took the roof off the Copa Room with their exciting bouts. Fight fans jammed the 850-seat theater, and the fighters became synonymous both with Atlantic City and the casino.

Fletcher was one of the city’s early characters. He would walk the streets of Philadelphia at 2 a.m., daring people to steal the middleweight title belt he openly paraded. Fletcher’s preference for AC was indelibly impressed on ringside doctors one night in Las Vegas. He was knocked out cold by Juan Roldan and brought to consciousness by the physicians. They asked him the standard question:” Where are you?”

“At The Sands,” he answered. “In Atlantic City.”

Special Circumstances

Tommy Hearns ushered in Atlantic City’s tent era at Caesars, in 1983. Larry Holmes followed a couple months later by opposing Scott Frank under the big top at Harrah’s.

During this heyday, ESPN conducted nearly 30 shows per year here. NBC, CBS and ABC were not to be outdone. During the 1982 NFL strike, for example, CBS and NBC televised bouts from Atlantic City at the same time. It was an unprecedented move that’s never been repeated.

Casinos, networks, fighters and promoters enjoyed one of the greatest decades in boxing history. It peaked with the emergence of a young Tyson, who became a fixture. As Tyson’s bouts got bigger, so did the showrooms he filled. Finally, in 1988, he produced a signature event, “Once And For All” against Michael Spinks. Atlantic City was electric with the presence of celebrities, movie stars and well-dressed wannabes. Trump shattered boxing’s all-time record by paying $12 million for the site fee. The fighters split $32 million. Fans paid exorbitant ticket prices. And the property received substantial high-end play.

The era began winding down in 1991 as Evander Holyfield fought George Foreman. Amid sagging ticket sales, Trump publicly renegotiated his deal with promoters. Though the bout occurred, Trump’s public spat forecast the end of Atlantic City largesse.

“I’m tired of being the one taking all the risk,” he said afterward. “Other people have to step up.”

The pay formula had produced high risk for Trump and high reward for nearby properties. While he was on the hook for millions, they simply needed to secure seats for premium players. Other properties obtained a similar bang for much less buck. When Trump bowed out, Atlantic City marked the end of its honeymoon.

Part Two

Atlantic City produced more than 800 bouts in the ’80s, but the glory era ended. One major factor was the recession, which crippled high rollers. Some individual gamblers had been responsible for an entire fight card coming to Atlantic City. The decline in some major players curbed the fight scene.

So did the spread of gambling with locations like Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun and the Mississippi casinos. Like Atlantic City, they learned that paying for fight cards ensured national and worldwide publicity and shielded the event from normal accounting assessments.

But that changed as the bean counters played a more prominent role. Six-figure site fees shriveled to “four-wall” deals, in which the property furnished only the room to promoters.

Atlantic City managed its share of strong fight cards in the ’90s and tried different partnership remedies. It formed a coalition of properties to buy fights for the city. The United Nations-style approach worked occasionally, but would not become a long-term fit. As the city hit a slowdown, boxing action was reduced.

Action slowed further when Boardwalk Hall closed for renovations. When the Hall reopened, so did the eyes of gaming executives.

Arturo and the A-10

One of them was Ken Condon, who had worked his way up to become the chief executive at Bally’s. In 2002, he struck oil by landing the second Arturo Gatti-Micky Ward bout. The Boardwalk Hall blockbuster began a string of nine sellouts.

Gatti, who was raised in Montreal but lived in Jersey City, literally filled the hall. Twice a year, Condon could count on a financial blockbuster via “The Human Highlight Reel.” Gatti had been involved in several of boxing’s Fights of the Year and he put Atlantic City on the new-millennium map. He established a record of more than $5 million gross receipts for his 2005 effort against Floyd Mayweather. Gatti also helped Boardwalk Hall become the highest-grossing venue of its size in the world, according to Billboard magazine.

Condon keeps the formula going today. As a consultant, he’s delivered three strong AC fight cards at Bally’s and the Hall this year. The presence of Borgata, the Walk, the Quarter and the Pier at Caesars have helped launched another heyday. Money abounds for sports.

Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority chief Jeff Vasser has added his own chapter to this story. He brought in the Atlantic 10 men’s basketball tournament, which is growing into a weeklong getaway for gamblers up and down the East Coast.

The beat goes on. Twenty-seven years after saying “Atlantic City is pregnant with potential,” Don King has a street named for him here. And the city is pregnant with potential yet again.

Atlantic City’s Sports Top 10

• Tyson-Spinks. June 27, 1988. The fight set an all-time record for purses split, $32 million, and a site fee of $12 million paid by Donald Trump. It was the high-water mark of the euphoric ’80s. This was the first premier boxing card Las Vegas lost to Atlantic City.

• Holyfield-Foreman. April 19, 1991. Evander Holyfield’s victory over George Foreman produced two substantial results. It set a pay-per-view record of 1.4 million homes (since broken) and marked the end of Atlantic City’s first era. Donald Trump hereafter pledged to avoid taking a multimillion-dollar risk alone.

• Gatti-Ward II. November 23, 2002. This bout launched the Ken Condon-Arturo Gatti championship tandem in Atlantic City and began a string of nine consecutive Boardwalk Hall sellouts in five years.

• Gatti-Mayweather. June 26, 2005. The fight set an Atlantic City non-heavyweight title fight record of more than $5 million gate receipts. It nearly tripled the previous mark held by Gatti.

• Boardwalk Hall. Because of Gatti and concerts, the Hall received several awards from Billboard magazine for grossing the largest amount of business for any arena of its size in the entire world.

• Casino Respirator. Thanks to the CRDA and a sweetheart lease provided by the casino industry, the Atlantic City Surf remains in town for its 11th season, even though no minor league franchise has ever turned a profit in Atlantic City. Without casino involvement, a string of franchises perished. They included the Seagulls and Hi-Rollers (basketball), the Bullies (hockey), the Marathon (running) and the Around-the-Island Swim.

• Recreational Golf. Once a nuisance to casino officials, it has evolved into a major amenity. High-level area courses keep major players entertained. As a full-circle testament to this philosophy, Harrah’s owns the fabled Atlantic City Country Club.

• Professional Golf. The Shop Rite Classic was a great Ladies Professional Golf Association tournament held here from 1986 until politics killed it in 2006. Casinos sponsored parties and surrounding events for the Classic.

• Unique Events. The Atlantic City Offshore Powerboat Race came here in 1993. Donald Trump also sponsored his own powerboat extravaganza. Both events attracted the industry’s top talent, but like the Island Swim and Marathon, they were difficult for the public to follow. One the public embraces but casinos treat with kid gloves is the state high-school wrestling championships. They are held in the Hall each March. Casinos benefit via the adults, but avoid under-age gamblers.

• Atlantic 10. Big-time basketball now thrives in Atlantic City. The A-10 has produced good crowds here the last two years. For the price of Miss America, it attracts alumni and fans from throughout the Eastern seaboard. A 2006 special December trial game between Temple and Cincinnati in AC proved that Philly teams would bring crowds here.

By Frank Legato   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

“ Keep your filthy hands off Atlantic City and keep the hell out of our state!”

This was the famous line directed at organized crime by former New Jersey Governor Brendan Byrne after he signed the Casino Control Act in 1977, officially ushering in Atlantic City’s gaming era. At the time, many reporters undoubtedly licked their chops, looking forward to the times they could throw that line back in Byrne’s face.

After all, this was New Jersey, right? How, they reasoned, could a business like casinos—their only record being the infamous and, at the time, strong mafia control of gaming in Nevada—avoid mob infiltration in a state that was one of the cradles of the Cosa Nostra?

Thirty years after the first casino opened, reporters have had almost no occasion to bring that quote up, because, by and large, organized crime has kept its “filthy hands” off Atlantic City gaming.

New Jersey succeeded in keeping the business clean by starting out with a regulatory structure that some called cumbersome, and others complained was absolutely stifling to the normal conduct of business. Those initial rules would be relaxed eventually, but not at the expense of strict integrity, and not before the gaming industry had begun its expansion beyond Nevada and New Jersey to become a nationwide business that was recognized and respected.

“We had to ensure integrity in the very beginning,” comments Linda Kassekert, chairwoman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. “We had to prove ourselves, being the second jurisdiction after Nevada to get gaming, that this was a business as pure as it could be, as clean as it could be… Had my forebears not been as stringent, we might be looking at a very different Atlantic City today. Just the fact that we have such a good national, and even worldwide, reputation is really a testament to those early days.”

The Other Extreme

Those early days were legendary in their definition of the term “strict regulation,” and, some would argue, “over-regulation.”

“I think ‘cumbersome’ is a mild word, because initially, the regulations were beyond cumbersome,” recalls Mac Seelig, founder and president of AC Coin & Slot, one of the first vendors to Atlantic City casinos. “They were costly to all of us as vendors—the additional costs we had just to get licensed, to have the state come and inspect our facilities, and so on. The legal fees alone on our side were just unconscionable.”

Seelig adds that when the initial regulations were relaxed in the 1990s, all realized that they had been necessary to establish the reputation for integrity that New Jersey gaming has since enjoyed. “The job was done so well by the operators and the regulators initially that it left all of us, those still here standing, doing very well.”

That didn’t change how difficult it was initially to do business in Atlantic City. However, as noted by the people who created that initial regulatory structure, the difficulties arose from safeguards deemed necessary to maintain a squeaky-clean local version of an industry that traditionally was anything but squeaky-clean.

“Remember, when we built the regulatory structure, first, we were working from scratch,” says Superior Court Judge Steven Perskie, who, as an attorney and a state lawmaker in the 1970s, was a main force in drafting what would become the Casino Control Act. “We had nothing to go by. Second, we were dealing with the specter of an industry that had a corrupt reputation, in a city and state that both had corrupt reputations.”

Perskie, who would go on to serve as perhaps the most influential head of the Casino Control Commission during the 1990s, says he actually drafted and published what would become the Casino Control Act before the 1976 election, so voters would get a complete picture of what the casinos would look like. Though borrowing the best from the statutes of jurisdictions where gaming was legal, he didn’t simply copy existing rules.

“We had to create a structure that met New Jersey’s needs,” he says. “We were acutely aware of New Jersey’s climate and history, so we made the strategic decision that the regulatory system was the key—because the regulatory system had to be and to be seen as being independent and strong, and free from political pressures, completely isolated from the normal New Jersey political system.

“That’s how we came up with the idea for a two-agency system—the Casino Control Commission, an independent agency; and the Division of Gaming Enforcement, which is organized within the Attorney General’s office.” It is a system that eventually would become a model for gaming jurisdictions across the world.

“It kept the mob out," says Pat Dodd, a state senator in the 1970s who was later a Casino Control Commission member under Walter Read and Perskie. “That was the major success of the Casino Control Act.”

Tough Years, Tough Decisions

While the Casino Control Act would go on to become the model for new gaming jurisdictions, the early years of gaming in Atlantic City would see strict application of the law by regulators who were mainly from the realm of law enforcement.

The first chairman of the Casino Control Commission, the late Joseph P. Lordi, was a former Essex County prosecutor (as was Byrne), and both the commission and the DGE were replete with law enforcement experience.

“Joe Lordi ran the commission as a startup agency very well,” comments G. Michael Brown, who went on from a position as prosecutor under Lordi in Essex County to become the second director of the DGE in 1980, and later developed Foxwoods Casino Resort for the Mashantucket Pequot tribe in Connecticut. “He had been the Alcoholic Beverage Control director and first assistant prosecutor under Byrne—he became prosecutor when Byrne became governor, after which Byrne drafted him to head the new agency. He wanted law enforcement presence on the commission.”

Byrne also sent the word down to the early commission that the Casino Control Act was to be interpreted strictly—much to the chagrin of operators during the early 1980s. And to make matters worse, the election of Tom Kean as governor, and appointment of Walter Read as commission chairman, ushered in a period that was very much adversarial between the regulators and operators in Atlantic City.

Dennis Gomes, former president of the Tropicana and now head of Cordish+Gomes Gaming, was an investigator for the DGE at the time. His law-enforcement reputation was stellar. He had helped to bring down Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, one of the last mob associates to still control a Las Vegas casino, during his time as a Nevada investigator. In New Jersey, Gomes says he was given free reign with a special task force.

“We were told that we had complete autonomy in our investigatory procedures,” he says.

After he crossed international borders to prove that Resorts International had been making payments to relatives of Bahamian politicians, his group was disbanded.

“We were disappointed, but there was a lot of pressure to get Resorts licensed,” he says. The regulatory controls, designed to keep organized crime out, extended to every aspect of casino operations. At least 5 percent of slots had to be nickel games. A certain number of $2 and $5 blackjack tables needed to be in play at all times. Minor changes in operations—even the colors of the bathrooms, by some accounts—had to be approved by the commission. Any introduction of new games had to be approved by the legislature.

“Unfortunately, we placed burdens on businesses and on ourselves—we didn’t know when to stop,” says Dodd. “It wasn’t until the late 1980s that it became very clear that we were doing it wrong.”

The 1980s also were marked by several controversial licensing decisions, leading up to the most controversial of all, the denial of a gaming license to Hilton Hotels Corporation in May of 1985.

It wasn’t the first controversial decision—the DGE recommended against licensing for Resorts International, the first casino, citing a total of 17 points to which objections could be raised. Brown, who worked on the Resorts licensing hearing as an attorney for the commission, says the panel ultimately decided none of the points rose to the level required for a license denial.

Joel Sterns, Resorts’ attorney, agrees. “We were able to explain that all the objections were minor issues,” he says. “Even the issue of payments to Bahamian companies could be justified as normal payments for services rendered.”

After the Resorts licensing, the commission adopted a policy of conditional licensing, which had major ramifications for the companies involved. Stuart and Clifford Perlman, the founders of Caesars World, were found unsuitable because of past business dealings with alleged criminal figures. Caesars Boardwalk Regency (later Caesars Atlantic City) was given the condition of the Perlmans’ resignation before a license would be issued. The Perlmans resigned.

Later decisions affecting Bally’s Park Place (now Bally’s Atlantic City) and Playboy strengthened that precedent.

The granddaddy of them all, though, was the Hilton decision. No one expected Hilton to be denied a license, least of all the famous company’s executives, who oversaw construction of a Marina District casino hotel that was nearly complete at the time of the decision. When the commission denied Hilton’s license, it sent a chill through the industry that undoubtedly caused some companies to second-guess investing in Atlantic City. (The near-complete casino, along with its hired employees, were snatched up by Donald Trump for what is today Trump Marina.)

A New Era

The election of Jim Florio as New Jersey governor ushered in a new era of cooperation between Atlantic City regulators and operators. Florio’s appointment of Perskie as chairman of the Casino Control Commission began a partnership between the industry and its regulatory agencies that continues to this day.

The changes actually started when Dodd became a commissioner, under Read. Dodd became the lone voice for reform of the commission’s procedures, but when Perskie was appointed chairman, he says, everything changed.

“I had lists—suggestions, not just complaints—on how we could tweak the entire process,” Dodd says. “Perskie adopted virtually everything, and then, to his credit, went on to other innovations. It was a watershed change.”

“When I became chairman,” recalls Perskie, “there were two different realities. One, on a person-to-person basis, we had the finest government agency I’d ever seen. By the same token, though, by 1990, the industry had been here 12 years, and nobody had ever sat down to do a substantive and comprehensive analysis of whether the regulatory structure and its systems were still serving the appropriate public interest.

“The good news is that the system worked; the bad news is that by 1990, it was sclerotic—it was using 1978 techniques and 1978 ideas to deal with an industry and reality in 1990.”

One by one, the restrictive regulations began to give way to more business-friendly rules. Decisions on new casino games are now the responsibility of the commission, not lawmakers in Trenton. The rules on approval of slot machines, once a laborious process in New Jersey, were streamlined to allow slot game approval that is now among the quickest in the industry.

After hundreds of regulatory and administrative changes, Atlantic City casinos entered their golden age, and became darlings of Wall Street in the process.

However, of all the changes made, Perskie notes that the controls in place to prevent crime remained among the most strict in the industry.

Even the more restrictive early days of regulation, though, played an important part in the development of the casino industry in general. For instance, the so-called “50 percent rule,” which held in the beginning that no one slot manufacturer could occupy as much as half of a casino floor, allowed a slot sector dominated in 1978 by one company—Bally—to flourish with a variety of new manufacturers, not the least of which was International Game Technology.

“That was such an evolutionary step for the industry,” notes AC Coin’s Seelig. “It’s the reason IGT and all those other folks are in the position they are today. It was a good thing; it changed technology.”

Sterns says even Nevada is better off now that New Jersey regulations proved to be so successful.

“In the beginning, they laughed at us,” says Sterns. “But now, Nevada regulations are the equal to if not even tougher than New Jersey. And all other states look to New Jersey today in addition to Nevada, so the two states really are the gold standard of gaming regulations.”

“Casino gaming is legal in 38 states now, and probably 70 percent of them drafted their regulatory model around New Jersey,” says Brown. “I worked in two states in Australia, and both used the Casino Control Act of New Jersey as the basis for legalizing casinos.

“New Jersey gave legitimacy to the casino industry.”

By   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Before casinos changed the face and fortunes of Atlantic City, its most recognizable spokesman may have been a top-hatted, mustachioed tycoon known as Uncle Pennybags.

In the late 1920s, the jaunty character on the Monopoly game board, supposedly based on financier J.P. Morgan, literally brought the map of Atlantic City into millions of homes. Who didn’t long to visit the real Marvin Gardens, tread the famous Boardwalk, risk it all on a game of Chance? And make no mistake: games of chance were plentiful long before 1978.

Over the years, the city has embodied all that is wholesome (Miss America, Steel Pier) and everything mother warned you about (bootleg liquor, illegal gambling, houses of prostitution). Even Monopoly, a game beloved by generations of children, is at its heart a tribute to greed and the desire to run everybody else out of business.

Here is wild-and-woolly Atlantic City from the 1930s through the ’60s—four decades of prosperity and poverty, mayhem and hullabaloo.

1930s

During Prohibition, Atlantic City was an easy mark for smugglers, who surrepticiously guided boatloads of European whiskey through its maze of rivers and inlets. Known in short order for its gin joints and back-alley gambling dens, the city attracted a sinister element, including some of the most famous mobsters of the day.

In 1929, shortly after “Scarface” Al Capone ordered the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, he met with fellow mobsters Lucky Luciano, Dutch Schultz and Meyer Lansky at the Ambassador Hotel, trying to broker a peace. When Lansky honeymooned here, he stayed in the penthouse of the Ritz-Carlton and was wined and dined by powerful political boss Enoch “Nucky” Johnson. Johnson, known for his involvement in rum-running and numbers rackets, was later jailed for tax evasion.

The Miss America pageant, pulled in 1927 because it was deemed immoral, was revived in 1933. To the delight and hilarity of all, the “talent” portion of the competition was introduced. On the Boardwalk, the big bands of the era held sway, wowing as many as 80,000 fans on a single summer day. It’s where bandleader Harry James introduced a skinny crooner named Frank Sinatra, and where Grace Kelly, whose family summered in Ocean City, went dancing. On the Steel Pier, the Diving Horse made a big splash.

1940s

After the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Convention Hall became a makeshift military base for U.S. armed forces, training so many soldiers that it earned the nickname “Camp Boardwalk.”

The Claridge, Ritz-Carlton, Haddon Hall (known as England General Hospital) and others, served as training and rehab centers. Each day, recruits performed calisthenics on the beach, and each night the city went dark, with Boardwalk lights painted black so ships would not be visible to offshore U-boats. In November 1943, Atlantic City hosted a world peace conference, and within a year, the war in Europe had ended.

That same year a massive hurricane roared up the East Coast from Cape Hatteras; on September 14, 1944, it battered Absecon Island with winds that reached 85 mph. Area highways were submerged in up to five feet of water, and though two deaths were reported, the city survived largely intact, with damage to the Boardwalk minimal.

The 500 Club, a fixture in the city since 1918, reached its peak of popularity with performers like Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis (who first teamed up there), as well as Sinatra, Jimmy Durante and Sammy Davis Jr. Nighclub owner Paul “Skinny” D’Amato, a mob intimate, ran a race and sports betting parlor on the Northside that masqureraded as a cigar store..

1950s

During this decade, every major black entertainer of the time appeared at one of six nightclubs on Kentucky Avenue including Grace’s Little Belmont, the Paradise Club and Club Harlem. The star-studded lineup included Pearl Bailey, Cab Calloway, Sarah Vaughn, Redd Foxx, Nat “King” Cole, Moms Mabley, James Brown and Billy Eckstine.

But by the 1950s, automobiles and easy air travel had begun to erode Atlantic City’s popularity among tourists. Visitors who had once come by train and stayed for weeks spent a few days or hours before moving on. Florida and the Caribbean were the places to go; other Jersey Shore towns developed their own following and skimmed off even more of Atlantic City’s patron base. The city’s famous carnival atmosphere suddenly seemed tired and tacky; one newspaper even referred to AC as “Skid Row by the Sea.”

Soon poverty and crime took hold, and middle-class residents fled to the suburbs. The neighborhood known as the Inlet became particularly impoverished. It seemed that Atlantic City’s best days were behind her.

1960s

By the ’60s, many of the resort's great hotels had closed or been converted to cheap housing. Soon many would face demolition, including landmarks like the Breakers, the Chelsea, the Brighton, the Mayflower and the Marlborough Blenheim.

The 1964 Democratic Convention should have been a highlight of the decade. Instead, wrote historian David G. Schwartz, it was “a low ebb, revealing to the nation a city with decaying hotels, an inadequate infrastructure and few attractions.” The onetime “Queen of Resorts” had become an aging monarch.

But it still had its regulars. In 1967, the “Summer of Love,” 30 Sicilians and their bodyguards met Philadelphia mob boss Angelo Bruno for a confab at the 500 Club. Before long, the FBI began tapping the phones at “the Five” and monitoring the action from a parking lot across the street. It was the nadir of a once-great destination.

Then, less than a decade later, casino gambling was resoundingly approved by New Jersey voters and a year after that, Resorts International changed everything.

Today in this reviving city, the skyline is arcing ever higher, billions of dollars have been pledged for new development, and the future seems bright. And as visitors enter the city near the Expressway, they pass a plaque, erected by the city, in honor of Skinny D’Amato.

By   Fri, Sep 19, 2008

By Frank Legato   Thu, Jun 19, 2008

By Roger Gros   Mon, May 19, 2008

By Roger Gros   Mon, May 12, 2008

By Casino Connection Staff   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

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By Casino Connection Staff   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

By David Schwartz   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

On November 1, 1976, the big red brick building at North Carolina Avenue and the Boardwalk was plain old Haddon Hall. It was one of the last remaining historic hotels in town—the biggest of the bunch—but it was still just an aging hotel in a dead-end resort.

But on the following day, when New Jersey voters approved the referendum that legalized casino gaming in Atlantic City, Haddon Hall was thrust into history: this would become the place where the East Coast tasted legal casino gambling for the first time.

It was an unlikely site, at least from the viewpoint of history. Haddon Hall and its sister property, the Chalfonte, were once owned by Quakers who as a matter of policy refused to serve alcohol to their guests. These straitlaced proprietors would have been aghast at the free-flowing booze and wild gambling action that soon broke loose within the walls of a converted Haddon Hall.

In expectation that the referendum would pass, a company named Resorts International bought the hotel to refit it as a casino. They were not disappointed, though Resorts nearly missed taking part in the gambling bonanza.

Resorts had once been a paint business. In 1968, Chairman Jim Crosby sold off the Mary Carter Paint Company, bought a Bahamas casino and, of course, renamed the enterprise.

Crosby and Resorts President I.G. “Jack” Davis were bullish on Atlantic City. After the referendum passed, they raced to get Resorts International opened in the former Haddon Hall. The overworked Division of Gaming Enforcement was unable to finish its licensure investigation in time, though, and the Casino Control Commission was forced to issue a temporary license to Resorts the night before the casino was set to open. Along the way, state regulators scrambled to formulate—and enforce—elements of the new gaming rules.

The public couldn’t wait to start playing. On Friday, May 26, 1978—the start of Memorial Day weekend—lines started forming outside the casino almost before dawn. For months, city officials had been planning for the sudden influx of visitors: 150,000 cars a day were expected, and each of the city’s 8,000 hotel and motel rooms was booked.

The sky was overcast, but no one minded. At 10 a.m. Governor Brendan Byrne made a short speech and cut a red ribbon strung across the casino’s Boardwalk entrance. Inside, entertainer Steve Lawrence placed the first official bet: ten dollars on the pass line at craps. He rolled a five, then sevened out. Thousands of gamblers raced through the casino, looking for a spot at the 84 tables or 893 slot machines. When state and casino officials finally counted the take, Resorts International had made more money than any casino ever. In its first year, the casino earned nearly two and a half times more than the Las Vegas Strip’s biggest property, the MGM Grand.

The casino opened each day at 10 a.m. and closed at 4 in the morning on weeknights, 6 a.m. on weekends; in its first days, there was a 15-minute wait just to get in. Steve Lawrence and his wife, Eydie Gorme, headlined a show produced by Tibor Rudas in the Superstar Theater, giving the crowd a taste of Las Vegas-style entertainment, complete with showgirls, choreography, and glitz. Hungry visitors could stop at several restaurants, including Le Palais, a French eatery, and Camelot, a British-themed steakhouse.

By the end of June, Resorts had added about 500 slot machines and 50 more table games and boasted a casino bigger than any in Vegas. It was without a doubt the most successful casino in the world.

As Atlantic City grew in the early 1980s, Resorts International continued to prosper and planned a huge second casino, the Taj Mahal, across Pennsylvania Avenue. Jim Crosby’s death in 1986 threw the company into turmoil, and when the dust settled a year later, Donald Trump owned the Taj site and Merv Griffin had Resorts. Merv Griffin’s Resorts lasted until 1998 when Sun International, owned by South African casino magnate Sol Kerzner, bought it.

Sun planned a massive rebuilding project, but made only modest improvements before selling Resorts in 2001 to Colony Capital LLC, a private equity fund headed by Thomas J. Barrack, Jr. Colony invested heavily in Resorts, adding the 459-room Rendezvous Tower and completely remodeling and expanding the casino itself.

The reborn Resorts continues to blaze a trail in Atlantic City and remains one of the top destinations by the shore. Its current management is carrying the historic legacy of the resort pioneer into the future.

By Dave Bontempo   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Cal Ripken would be proud. Baseball’s fabled iron man, revered for playing a record 2,632 consecutive games over 16 seasons, would tip his hat to Harrah’s dealer Dennis Colombo. On February 2, 1985, the Indianapolis native reported to work there for the first time.

And he’s never missed a day. Never.

Through six presidential administrations and nearly 6,000 workdays, Colombo has stayed perfect despite bad weather, borderline sickness and a truck with more than 320,000 miles. The Egg Harbor Township resident may own the world record for workplace durability, but he’s also served with distinction. In March, Colombo was named Harrah’s 2007 Employee of the Year.

When summoned to the ceremony, “I thought it was probably the whole thing about not calling out sick, and maybe they’d give me 100 bucks,” he recalls. “Then they announced my name and really blew me away. They give you 5 G’s take-home, which is always terrific, but they’re also telling you how much you are appreciated. That means a lot to me.”

Colombo never forgets his pre-casino grind and a myriad of jobs that paid minimum wage or slightly above. Those jobs required long hours and the same attention to detail that casinos do; working them, Colombo realized it pays to think big.

“I had my share of lousy jobs before I came to the casino,” he says. “Really, I’m just thankful to have a position as good as this one. You realize that you work in a place with real good people. The pay and the benefits have always been there. To me, you can’t beat it.”

He proves it every day in the casino. Colombo credits his parents for instilling humility and a strong work ethic. He discovered the shore while visiting relatives, and when he saw single women walking around Wildwood, “I thought I’d gone to heaven,” he says.

So he moved here from Indiana. He worked the low-paying circuit and saw the financial potential in casinos. After launching his career, Colombo came to regard his durability as a source of pride.

“To me, the idea of not calling out is a gift,” he says. “It means I have been fortunate, that I haven’t really been sick. The biggest threat would really be oversleeping (he works the 4 a.m. to noon shift). I have multiple alarm clocks all over the house. I live alone, so there’s nobody to wake you up if you oversleep. If that happens, you’re done.”

Colombo loves the variety of games and the relative calm of the marina district. Over the years he has seen tokes escalate and a comfort level grow between customers and employees.

“It’s important to let customers know you’re on their side,” he says. “If someone is having real bad luck, I may tell him the same things happen when I play.”

For Colombo, this has been a winning game for nearly a quarter of a century.

By Joe Legato   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Here’s a game that will put all the sniffles of allergy season into perspective. D3 Publisher presents Dark Sector, a game where the protagonist’s main weapon develops as a result of him getting sick.

The character’s name is Hayden Tenno, a CIA operative on a covert mission in a mysterious city called Lasria. The city is apparently some sort of relic of the Cold War, and during the mission Tenno is infected with a biological weapon called the Technocyte Virus. The virus causes him to gain special abilities, most notably the ability to grow a bladed boomerang called a glaive from his right arm.

Tenno must go around battling others infected with the virus as he tries to survive and seek out the villain behind it all.

The driving force of Dark Sector is definitely Tenno’s glaive. Not only is it an excellent weapon (it will even come back to you when you throw it), but the glaive can be a useful tool at times. Due to its ability to harness the elements, you’ll be able to do things like capture fire to burn through a door or utilize water to put the fire back out.

Another cool feature of Dark Sector is its visuals. Gore aside, I love seeing the creativity of programmers creating bad guys who have been mutated in some way. And when you place them in a dreary war setting, you have something unique to look at.

Dark Sector is a great third-person shooter with an interesting story and brutal bad-guy slashing fun. Though definitely not for kids, almost anybody can learn the controls within the first level and start slicing and dicing. Heck, you’ll probably end up playing through the puzzles and monsters until you get sick.

You may want to check with a doctor if you do start to feel ill, though; I hear that multi-bladed hand flu is going around.

By   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Here’s a refreshing change of pace: a book that says it’s okay, it’s good, it’s necessary to feel lousy from time to time. It could even be important, not simply for individuals but for societies and the world.

Wilson, an English professor at Wake Forest and a National Humanities Center fellow, is appalled by the obsession among modern Americans with vapid, inch-deep “happiness.” We emphasize happiness not simply as a goal but as a right, he says; in doing so we discount the mournfulness and restless yearning that in the past have created our greatest art and inspired our greatest thinkers.

To prove his case, Wilson presents a roll call of history’s famous melancholics: President Abraham Lincoln, who agonized over each decision that led to the Emancipation Proclamation; philosopher Carl Jung, whose black depressions were followed by vivid revelations about the nature of God; Georg Fredric Handel, who wrote “The Messiah” at one of the most desperate times of his life; Emily Dickinson, for whom sadness was a muse; even Bruce Springsteen, whose Nebraska album was written during a time of deep personal doubt.

Wilson observes that contemporary culture seems offended by even the hint of unhappiness or imperfection. Every rough edge must be Botoxed out. Every frown must be turned upside down. Every blemish and bad time must be airbrushed away, and each person’s “self-esteem” protected from the buffetings of life. Every relationship must be Stepford-smooth, until genuine emotion becomes impermissible.

It’s a challenging proposition, but in Wilson’s words, to be against happiness—to walk up to one’s anguish and uncertainty and know it as the inevitable cost of being alive—“is to be close to joy, to embrace ecstasy.”

By Roger Gros   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Las Vegas-based Panic! at the Disco released its second album, Pretty. Odd. last month and it immediately soared to the top of the charts.

Now, I don’t usually pay attention to the charts because most of the chart-toppers (and music consumers) have little taste. But Panic’s music has drawn me in with its intelligence. Yes, it’s a flashback to the ’60s and some of the great bands of the period; the first single, “Nine in the Afternoon,” draws liberally from classic Beatles music. But Pretty. Odd. is something completely different and an important statement in today’s music world.

Many bands with a legitimate love and respect for classic British pop music can’t take the steps that Panic has made. A group of Nashville session men calling themselves the Vinyl Kings did a few Beatles-inspired albums, but finally fell short of the passion always present in the Beatles’ music.

Panic not only brings back that passion but takes it to another level. The band’s use of horns, orchestration and multi-layered vocals recalls the ’60s but does not replicate it. Along with the music, which infuses each song with a specific feel, the lyrics are also different than most modern music. And the video for “Nine in the Afternoon” makes Panic look like the Beatles reborn, with references from the seminal British band’s Hard Days’ Night, Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour periods.

What’s so amazing about Panic is that all its members are less than 22 years old. They didn’t grow up with this music. Their first album, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, was slotted by the music business into the “emo” category, as a lame, drippy, “navel-gazing” style of music. So the transition to Pretty. Odd. is strikingly dramatic, and a remarkable departure for Panic which marks them as an important band.

Like the Beatles and U2, bands that attempt changes in concept and sound are often considered daring and controversial, but if they succeed, the band becomes bigger than life. That is still to be seen with Panic, but Pretty. Odd. is a great start.

By Frank Legato   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Anyone who thinks Will Smith can not carry a film on his own will no doubt be converted by I Am Legend. Based on the 1954 science fiction novel by Richard Matheson, Smith plays military scientist Dr. Robert Neville, who has survived a catastrophic virus that has wiped out nearly the entire population of Manhattan, and maybe elsewhere—we don’t know. The remaining humans are now vicious mutants who cannot bear sunlight and feed at night—like vampires—attacking anything they find.

Neville himself is one of the few who are immune to the virus. At the start of the film, he is working in the basement laboratory of his fortified Manhattan brownstone, trying to find a cure. His only companion; his dog, who accompanies him during the safe daytime hours to hunt for food amid a deserted cityscape.

The special effects are magnificent in this film, and that’s what makes it work. The viewer really believes that Smith’s character is in the middle of a deserted Manhattan, with Times Square and other carefully re-created landmarks overgrown with weeds and home to deer and other wildlife.

But it’s Smith who makes this film, turning in a remarkable performance. Aside from numerous flashback scenes and the appearance late in the film of another survivor, I Am Legend is dominated by his solo performance.

Even if you’ve seen this one in the theaters, you should get the DVD. Aside from the accompanying disc on how it was made, there’s a complete second version of the film with an alternate ending. It’s not necessarily better or worse than the theatrical version—the reviews are decidedly mixed on that point—but it’s completely different, with an intriguing take on the story.

The bottom line here: this DVD showcases Will Smith in one of his finest performances to date. For that alone, it is worth the purchase price.

By Casino Connection Staff   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

May 1

Badfish (Sublime tribute), House of Blues

May 1-2

Debbie Reynolds, Hilton

May 2

Paramore & Jimmy Eat World, Taj Mahal

May 2-3

Tom Jones, Harrah’s

Julio Iglesias, Ceasars

May 3

Mary J. Blige, Jay Z, Boardwalk Hall

Dolly Parton, Borgata

Tracy Morgan, Borgata

New Breed Fighters, House of Blues

The Musical Box, Taj Mahal

Third Eye Blind, Tropicana

Jay Black, Hilton

May 4

Lani Misalucha and the Society of Seven, House of Blues

May 4-9

Night of 1000 Guidos, Hilton

May 4-24

Deborah Gibson: Pop Goes Broadway, Harrah’s

May 9

Gary Allan, House of Blues

Van Halen, Boardwalk Hall

Ring of Combat XIX, Tropicana

May 10

Young American Comedy Tour w/ Mike Young, Sam Tripoli, Trump Marina

Wayne Brady, Borgata

Regina Spektor, House of Blues

May 11

Sommore, House of Blues

Tsai Chin, House of Blues

May 12

Disturbed, House of Blues

May 15

Gin Blossoms, House of Blues

Night of Broadway Stars, Borgata

May 16

Sully Erna, Borgata

May 17

Belinda Carlisle, House of Blue

May 18, May 20-23

The Diamonds, Hilton

May 23

Paul Anka, Borgata

P. Diddy presents Making the Band 4, House of Blues

May 23-24

Kenny Rogers, Trump Plaza

May 23-25, May 27-29

Boogie WonderBand, Hilton

May 24

John Pinette, Borgata

John “Dr. Dirty” Valby, House of Blues

Jimmy Shubert, Trump Marina

Patti Labelle, House of Blues

Jerry Seinfeld, Caesars

Sister Hazel & Edwin McCain, Tropicana

Rico J. Puno, Hajji Alejandro, Ray Valera, Boardwalk Hall

May 24-25

Larry the Cable Guy, Taj Mahal

Kenny Logins, Bally’s

Natalie Cole, Resorts

May 25

Andre Rieu, Boardwalk Hall

Eric Clapton, Borgata

Dave Atell, Borgata

Eddie Money, House of Blues

May 28

The Kentucky Headhunters, House of Blues

May 30

Sheryl Crow, Borgata

May 30-31

Wayne Newton, Harrah’s

Kathy Griffin, Borgata

May 31

John Heffron, Henry Cho, Trump Plaza

Ilya Averbukh’s Ice Show, Boardwalk Hall

Alicia Keys with Ne-Yo, Taj Mahal

Revues

Ongoing

Yesterday—A Tribute to the Beatles, Tropicana

May 12-June 25

Best of Broadway, Tropicana

May 22-25

Jukebox Heros Live, Trump Marina

May 22-August 31

Tony ‘n Tina’s Wedding, Showboat

By   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Alicia Keys is back, and for lovers of smartly nuanced neo-soul, that’s always good news.

The supremely gifted singer-pianist-composer is touring in support of her 2007 album As I Am, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts and reaffirmed her rank as one of the world’s premiere female solo artists. Keys comes to Trump Taj Mahal for one night only, Saturday, May 31.

A musical prodigy whose talents were evident by the time she was nine years old, Keys’ classical training adds depth to her R&B repertoire, now increasingly influenced by hip-hop. A phenomenal success from the moment she debuted in 2001, Keys’ trophy case is jam-packed: 11 Grammy Awards, 11 Billboard Music Awards, three American Music Awards and 14 NAACP Image Awards.

At the show, anticipate a reprise of chart-topping hits (“You Don’t Know My Name,” “No One,” “If I Ain’t Got You” and the ubiquitous “Fallin’,”), as well as songs from the new album. Opening for Keys will be songwriter-vocalist Ne-Yo (“Let Me Love You,” “So Sick”).

By   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

He was perhaps the only ’60s-era musician to inspire comparison to the Deity. Back in that pharmaceutically fueled age, it was not uncommon to see graffiti from London to LA and everywhere in-between declaring “Clapton is God.”

It’s hard to believe, but after all these years, Eric Clapton’s one-night-only May 25 show at Borgata will be the his Atlantic City casino debut.

The guitar legend was here with the Stones in 1989 for three arena concerts. It should be sensational to see and hear him in the relatively intimate 2,000-plus-seat Event Center at Borgata.

The multiple Grammy Award winner known as Slowhand has been inducted three times into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame—for his solo artistry as well as stints with the Yardbirds and Cream. A cofounder with Steve Winwood and Ginger Baker of rock’s first so-called supergroup, Blind Faith, Clapton also cobbled together the ensemble that became Derek and the Dominoes. He was ranked fourth in Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists and Number 53 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Clapton deserves every accolade. Despite a downright messy personal life marked by extravagant drug addiction and destructive relationships (all recounted with unsparing candor in his recent autobiography), he is a peerless instrumentalist and a true innovator in the genres of blues-rock (Derek and the Dominos), psychedelic rock (Cream) and even pop rock (his 1997 collaboration “Change the World” with Babyface). He also tried his hand at scoring a mid ’70s hit with a cover of Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff.”

With the Dominoes, he produced the 1970 album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs; the title tune is one of rock’s most tortured and enduring love songs.

Though he crashed and burned several times during his long love affair with drugs and alcohol, Clapton sobered up in 1987, and his career surged. His MTV Unplugged CD (it included the tender “Tears In Heaven,” a lament for the death of his son) won six Grammys. His 2000 album with blues legend B.B. King, Riding with the King, went gold immediately on release.

Expect samples from every era of the career of the guitar giant when Clapton comes to Borgata.

By   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Anyone who’s seen an episode of Bravo TV’s My Life on the D-List knows that Kathy Griffin is profane as a dock full of longshoremen and blunt as a two-by-four. As the reality show also attests, Griffin loves her parents and her dogs and is willing to travel to dangerous war zones to entertain our troops. The contradictory comedian, whose standup can veer from the merely naughty to the outright outrageous, comes to Borgata May 30.

Until D List, Griffin was best known as Brooke Shields’ sidekick on the NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan. The reality show revealed her raucous side. She gleefully skewered the sacred cows of show business—from Gwyneth Paltrow to Celine Dion, from Streisand to Oprah Winfrey, from Paula Abdul to Paris Hilton—while also mocking her own relentless quest for fame.

Carefully planned controversy has become Griffin’s modus operandi. On a visit to ABC’s all-girl gabfest, The View, she made waves by predicting that young actress Dakota Fanning would end up in rehab. Most recently she riled Christians by making offensive remarks about Jesus at the Emmy Awards.

Though her act is not for the faint of heart, the provocative Griffin can also be laugh-out-loud funny. The bitch is back, and for many, she’s welcome.

By   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

With the musical revue Pop Goes Broadway, Deborah “Don’t-Call-Me Debbie” Gibson bridges the gap between her early years as a teenage pop artist and her latter-day career as one of Broadway’s busiest leading ladies (she’s played Belle in Beauty and the Beast and both Velma and Roxie in Chicago).

When Gibson’s show comes to Harrah’s for a three-week run, expect ’80s pop hits—“Only in My Dreams,” “Shake Your Love” and “Lost In Your Eyes”—juxtaposed with show tunes and plenty of dancing.

At 16, Gibson burst on to the pop charts as the youngest person ever to write, produce and perform a No. 1 single, “Foolish Beat.” At her peak she sold more than 16 million albums worldwide. Her album Electric Youth went triple platinum, and she was named an ASCAP Songwriter of the Year.

Then little Debbie grew up, but unlike many a former kid star, she did not crash and burn. Instead, she headed to the Great White Way to play Eponine in Les Miserables, did road tours of Funny Girl and Grease, and took on the star-making role of Sally Bowles in Cabaret, a performance that earned raves. Anticipate both the sweet and sultry sides of Deborah Gibson in this exuberant revue.

By   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige come to Boardwalk Hall May 3 for a summit of hip-hop, rap, R&B and soul.

One of music’s most financially successful hip-hop entrepreneurs, Jay-Z blends pop and street styles in tunes like “Feelin’ It,” “Sunshine,” “The City Is Mine” and “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem),” in which he memorably sampled a song from the hit Broadway musical Annie. He is also co-owner of the 40/40 Club on Atlantic Avenue and the New Jersey Nets basketball team.

Mary J. Blige, a former directory information operator, came out of nowhere in 1992 with the release of the hit CD What's the 411? The album displayed raw emotional intensity and a soulful sound that invited comparisons with Aretha Franklin and Patti LaBelle; it produced several hit singles including “You Remind Me” and “Real Love.”

Since then, Blige has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide, earned more than two dozen Grammy awards, and influenced a whole new generation of artists. She’s also trying her hand at acting (TV’s Strong Medicine, Entourage and Ghost Whisperer), and is reportedly set to portray music legend Nina Simone in a biopic.

The tour, on the road since early March, has been called “thrilling,” and “one of the most potent urban music bills in recent memory” with nearly three hits backed by a 12-piece horn and string section.

By Joseph Harrison   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Country superstar Dolly Parton has been knocking ’em dead since she debuted (at age 13!) at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry. She signed her first record deal a year later, became famous as a singer on country legend Porter Wagoner’s TV show, and went on to become one of the most accomplished and diverse performers in show business. Rescheduling her show from March, Parton returns to Atlantic City on May 3 at the Borgata.

Arguably the most famous female country singer of all time, Parton is also an acclaimed composer and instrumentalist with hits like “My Tennessee Mountain Home,” “Here You Come Again,” “Those Memories of You” and “9 to 5.”

Expect to hear songs from her 2005 album, Those Were the Days, a collection of folk and pop tunes from the ’60s and ’70s, as well as new songs from Backwoods Barbie, released in February. Parton is calling the album her first compilation of mainstream country music in 17 years.

For the Backwoods Barbie World Tour, Parton will perform hits from her storied career, which includes 25 No. 1 hits, seven Grammy Awards, 10 Country Music Association Awards, five Academy of Country Music Awards and three American Music Awards. She wrote nine of the songs on the new album, including the current hit single and video, “Better Get to Livin’.”

Backed by a seven-piece band and a trio of support vocalists, Dolly still knows how to put on a heck of a show.

Mon, Apr 28, 2008

In this era of changing marketplace conditions, the time has come for a complete re-tooling of the Master Plan for Atlantic City.

To remain the premier gaming and tourist attraction on the Eastern seaboard, we must implement a comprehensive plan that takes into account new gaming and entertainment attractions within the tri-state and other areas, while continuing to develop Atlantic City as an unparalleled convention host site.

In terms of tax dollars, Atlantic City government must do more with less, responsibly cutting our bloated budget without compromising services or, more importantly, the safety of the public.

With so many fixed costs to operate a well-structured municipal government, the real challenge lies in what you can responsibly cut. The present time is of particular concern, considering the current financial state of New Jersey, the specter of looming budget cuts and the potential loss of state aid.

When the citizens of a city have contributed their fair share through municipal and school taxes and the funds do not find their way back from either state or federal government, you begin to realize the crisis the state of New Jersey and the individual municipalities are in.

There are only two truly realistic ways to achieve meaningful budget reform: cut spending across the board, or raise taxes. To me, raising the taxes of the people of Atlantic City is unacceptable. Therefore, government must be creative, again doing more with less, just as everyone on a household budget has to do.

Speaking of challenges, our residents are currently experiencing a revaluation of their properties for the first time in more than two decades. The impact of this revaluation will be fully felt after our municipal budget is adopted and the municipal and district school tax rates are finalized.

There are standards and conditions that must be met when an appraisal company, acting as an agent for a municipality, determines the actual value of a property. The firm will utilize comparable sales in a consistent form and location along with improvements made to real property and whenever possible, a physical inspection of the particular homes in a municipality. The firm will then submit all findings for approval by the municipal tax assessor.

There is a conventional belief that in any municipal revaluation, one third of the properties will experience an increase, one third a decrease, and one third will remain the same once municipal and district school tax rates have been established.

With the extraordinarily long period between revaluations, the impact on our property owners remains to be seen. But we will unquestionably face some of the most challenging times ever, requiring government to keep its charge to serve the people while operating within its means—just like private citizens must do.

By Casino Connection Staff   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Lending What’s the difference between a home equity loan and a home equity line of credit (HELOC)?

A HELOC is an open-ended loan with a variable rate that lets the borrower draw on the available balance and pay back on the balance while maintaining the entire line amount. In that way, it’s similar to a credit card. A home equity loan is closed-end, typically at a fixed rate. The borrower gets the entire loan up front and pays it back according to a fixed amortization schedule. Once money’s paid back, it can’t be accessed again short of refinancing the equity loan.

A HELOC works when the monetary need is not immediate, allowing borrowers to access the loan balance according to their own schedule. A home equity loan is best when borrowers know exactly how much money they need, and want the security of a fixed rate and regular repayments. Consult with a mortgage planner to decide which is best for you.

Adjustable rate mortgages have proven disastrous for many homeowners. Is there ever a good reason to take one?

Loan programs are neutral tools, but there are bad applications. If a borrower plans on being in a home for three years and can qualify for a 3-year or 5-year fixed rate adjustable with a lower interest rate, it may make sense. If a borrower wants to maximize cash flow from an investment property to reinvest in more property or for retirement, an ARM can be an entirely appropriate choice.

As yield curves return to normal ranges and the spread between ARMs and fixed rates widen, ARMs may return as a viable loan option for many borrowers.

Is it always better to put a big down payment on a home?

Money you put down immediately becomes “dead equity;” it stops growing. Place the minimum down and invest the difference in a safe and secure side investment account that will grow over time.

If a homeowner is “upside down” on his or her mortgage but can afford the monthly payment, is it a loss on paper only?

If the borrower is able make the payments, riding out the vagaries of the real estate market could be the best idea. People get caught up in their “equity position.” They should ask: Do I like my home? Does it fulfill the needs of my family for a safe, secure place to live? Do I like the schools and my neighbors?

Real estate markets go up and down. The market will recover in time, so if you can make the payments, relax and enjoy your life.

Vincent Daino is branch manager at Northeast Community Lending and host of The Mortgage Market Minute, Thursday at 5:30 p.m. and Sunday at 11 p.m. on NBC NewsCenter 40. For more information call 609-601-2988.

BY DESIGN

Thinking of installing a kitchen island? Make sure you have enough room.

At minimum, an island should be four feet long and slightly more than two feet deep. It must also have ample room for people to move and work around it—a minimum of 42 inches of passageway around the entire structure. So before unless you consider this popular kitchen feature, make your kitchen is at least eight feet deep and more than 12 feet long, or an island won’t add to your kitchen—it will cramp the space and limit function.

Mon, Apr 28, 2008

The mayoral primary June 3 will choose a Republican and Democratic nominee to run against at least two independents (Joseph Polillo and Willie Norwood) in November. The winner serves the remaining year of Bob Levy’s unexpired four-year term. Here are the primary candidates.

REPUBLICAN

John McQueen, Jr.

McQueen, who runs unopposed, operates a bio-diesel fuel business. The former Special Improvement District director will implement “flexible employment opportunity programs” (FEOPs) with a database of part-time workers to replace full-timers. He supports a casino smoking ban and believes casino employees should be able to hold elected office if they meet a two-year residency requirement. He is against employing lobbyists.

McQueen’s major issue is implementing an alternative energy station and hybrid vehicle plan. It’s unclear where he stands on the needle exchange program, but he supports enforcing all laws, including immigration status, at the local level. “We must work together to stop the illegal intrusion into our government and municipalities,” he says. “We must continually enforce our ordinances on single-family units to maintain the integrity of our neighborhoods.”

DEMOCRATS

Atlantic City is the only New Jersey town to have more registered Democrats than independents and Republicans combined. There are three candidates for the Democratic nomination.

Dominic Cappella (www.cappellaformayor.com) “Straight talk, real change” is the slogan from the assistant business administrator. Cappella believes that casino employees should be allowed to run for office and wants smoking bans to come from Trenton or Washington. “To have any city council, not just Atlantic City, feel as though they have the right to regulate the daily operations of a private business is a dangerous precedent to set,” he says.

Cappella says a permanent legal department eliminates the corruption that comes with rewarding contracts on an as-needed basis. He is against employing lobbyists and promotes home ownership over public housing.

Cappella wants to improve roads, upgrade and reprogram the traffic control system and combine empty lots into larger tracts of land. He supports the needle exchange program and wants local law enforcement to stop the “silent invasion” of illegal immigration.

Cappella maintains there are too many employees and cell phones and says take-home vehicles should only be allowed for emergency personnel. He says, “I was accused of being an ‘obstacle’ by City Council for questioning everything I felt was unnecessarily costing the taxpayers… In this case, I’m happy to be an obstacle.”

Lorenzo T. Langford

Langford is the only candidate with both legislative and executive experience. He says he will erase “the stigma of ineptitude and corruption in government.” Casino employees who live here “should be afforded the same rights and privileges of every other citizen,” including the right to hold office, he says.

Langford does not believe the city should be responsible for enforcing immigration laws. He favors the needle exchange program and supports “compromise legislation” permitting smoking in designated areas.

Langford is in favor of the city employing lobbyists if they generate more money than they cost. He likes the way the taxicab and jitney franchises are regulated and stresses the need for an “overall management program” with regard to city infrastructure. He says he will re-implement a program from his previous term where one third of the streets are repaved each year.

Langford says his administration will restore integrity and improve the city’s reputation.

Scott Evans (www.scottevansmayor2008.com)

Evans recently said at a property tax phase-in meeting, “If I were mayor a year ago, we would not be in this mess.”

The Fire Department battalion chief, former Board of Education member and leader of the city’s Democratic Club is implementing a taxpayer trust fund and five-year phase-in of newly revaluated property taxes, two projects that are the first of their kind in New Jersey. (Independent Joseph Polillo first proposed the phase-in.)

Evans wants to improve and add to public housing and enforce stricter landlord regulations. He favors a casino smoking ban and the needle exchange program and wants to have low-level casino employees (but not management) stand for elected office. He is in favor of eminent domain.

Though he is reneging on his initial pledge not to run for mayor, Evans says, “I’m just getting the hang of the (relationship between) Council and the mayor’s office.” He says he wants to bring transparency to government and tax relief to citizens.

By Dave Bontempo   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Howard Dreitzer has never been afraid of the Big Dice Roll. The Florida native has made a career of timely moves. The first led him to Las Vegas in the 1970s. The second brought him to the Sands, the Golden Nugget, Trump Plaza and Showboat in Atlantic City from 1980 to 1993. Then came New Orleans and Australia, where he worked for Harrah’s. Now an Atlantic City connection has brought him back to the States.

“I was calling Jim Allen to refer a friend to him,” Dreitzer says of his colleague and former Trump boss who runs the Seminole gaming operation in Florida. “He asked me to fly in for a talk.”

Allen made him the senior vice president of table games, responsible for supplying the newest dimension of tribal gaming to several properties. When the house Down Under is sold, Dreitzer’s wife Alana will rejoin him.

“We have dual citizenship; we’ve made a lot of friends back in Australia and so this isn’t what you would normally consider an easy decision to make,” Dreitzer says. “But the project is exciting. I grew up in Florida, which makes it another plus. To me, this is the same feeling that existed in the early days of Atlantic City.”

Dreitzer had moved to Las Vegas and broke in as a dealer before Atlantic City expanded the gaming pie. He leaped into gaming’s second jurisdiction, aware of the value placed on Nevada experience.

“In the early days, Atlantic City recruited both from Vegas and northern Nevada,” Dreitzer says. “The Vegas group was more into the game protection and customer relationships. The northern Nevada people brought more accounting and analysis. Atlantic City melded them together in the best way.

“AC was nonstop. I never saw crap games like the ones we had at the Golden Nugget. You take that place on a Saturday night, Sinatra’s in, you’re seeing $10,000 limits and triple odds—there was nothing like it. It was a legendary thing. You had to respect Steve Wynn for his talent and the enormous courage of his convictions. If he saw something he wanted to change—boom—he would move a wall or knock something down. He was passionate about his customers. There was quite a frenzy at the Nugget for three to five years.”

Dreitzer climbed the ladder. He worked as pit boss, dual-rate supervisor, assistant shift manager, assistant casino manager, VP of casino operations and finally, vice president and chief operations officer at Showboat. He learned several sides of the business, including one that puzzled him.

“I never quite understood why the properties got so wrapped up in the marketing wars,” he says. “You’ve got 50 million people living within 300 miles and yet everybody thought they had to discount to steal the customer. The Taj Mahal made a big statement about that. Here is this big, beautiful property and it still struggled.

“In Atlantic City, they should take that money (for comps) and reinvest into properties. I think they will do that more, but right now the markets are tight.” Atlantic City provided more than a foundation for Dreitzer’s future success. It made him more practical.

“At Showboat, the previous management team had left en masse,” he says. “The new president had a financial background and he looked at the business more objectively, whereas I was more emotional, especially about the table games. But slots were taking over. I learned a whole different side of the business. You look at your product like you’re in a supermarket. If something isn’t working, you take it off the shelves.”

Dreitzer left Atlantic City when New Orleans got into gaming. That didn’t pan out. The next opportunity was with Harrah’s.

“When I told my wife the job was in Australia, she got real quiet,” he says. “But we knew we wanted to go somewhere quite far away from New Orleans. We figured to do it for a year or two and then come back. Well, it led to a lot more than two.”

And it took another adventure to bring him back.

Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Come out and rattle your sabers on Sunday, May 4, when the Absecon Lighthouse hosts “Be A Pirate Day.” Starting at 11 a.m., kids can climb to the top of the lighthouse and enjoy pirate-themed activities. At 1 p.m., the Philadelphia Fight Ensemble presents a pirate show on the front lawn titled “The Hunt for the Golden Albatross.” Admission for the day is $10 and includes light refreshments. Call 609-449-1360 or visit www.abseconlighthouse.org for more information.

The Atlantic City Free Public Library will kick off May with its Monthly Jazz Concert Series, an outstanding lineup of music being held in conjunction with the city’s First Wednesday promotion. On May 7, local trumpeter Brenda Bass—who has performed with the likes of Bette Mitler, Robert Palmer and Chuck Mangione—will perform in the library’s second-floor meeting room at 6 p.m.

Upcoming concerts will feature the Hassan Abdullah Quartet on Wednesday, June 4 and Edgardo Cintron and the Azuca Band on Wednesday, July 2. The concerts, which will run through September, are free and open to people of all ages. For information call 609-345-2269, ext. 3112.

On Saturday, May 10, Dante Hall Theater of the Arts in Atlantic City presents the pop culture phenomenon Schoolhouse Rock Live. The Emmy Award-winning television series from the 1970s taught history, grammar, math, science and politics through clever and catchy songs.

Schoolhouse Rock Live begins at 1 p.m. and tickets are $5. For information, call 609-344-8877 or visit www.dantehall.org.

Also on Saturday, May 10, the gala benefit Atlantic City Boardwalk Honors America’s Heroes will take place at Resorts Atlantic City’s Superstar Theater. The benefit to raise funds for a state World War II Memorial will recognize veterans of that era and recall Atlantic City’s days as Camp Boardwalk, when the War Department made Atlantic City a basic training and medical care center in 1942.

The program will include a patriotic salute by Governor Jon Corzine and baseball great Yogi Berra. Comedian Joe Piscopo will perform with an orchestra conducted by Vincent Falcone, Frank Sinatra’s conductor. Tickets are $75 or $125 (the latter includes a dessert reception). Tickets for New Jersey veterans are $60. For information, contact the Greater Atlantic City Chamber at www.acchamber.com or call 609-345-4524.

It may not be the first world series that springs to mind, but the 25th Annual World Series of Birding in Cape May is probably just as big in the bird-watching world. Created by the New Jersey Audubon Society more than two decades ago, the event has tracked as many as 340 species of birds at this crossroads of migration. Get out your binoculars on Saturday, May 10, for this international event. The 24-hour marathon begins and ends at midnight and challenges bird watchers to count as many bird species as possible. For more information, call 609-884-2736.

Over at the Historic Towne of Smithville and Village Greene in Galloway Township is the annual celebration of spring called Mayfest. The free festival takes place on Saturday, May 17, and Sunday, May 18, and will feature more than 100 crafters, an international food court, music, face painting and children’s activities. There will also be a chance at raffles from several area nonprofit organizations. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, contact www.smithvillenj.com.

Memorial Day weekend marks the grand re-opening of Crafter’s Village at Historic Gardner’s Basin in Atlantic City. The Village is a working group of artists housed in cottages along the Absecon inlet. Crafter’s Village is open weekends only from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. from May 24 through June 30 and September 8 through October 12. The Village is open Thursday through Monday from July 1 through September 7. For more information, call 609-348-2880.

America’s favorite pastime returns to Atlantic City when the Atlantic City Surf battles the Ottawa Rapids in its home season opener Monday, May 26 at Bernie Robbins Stadium. That game will be followed by fireworks. The Surf will play every day in the last week of May, with another fireworks display taking place May 30 following the 7:05 p.m. game. Tickets are available in advance at the Surf box office. For information and a full schedule for the season, call 609-344-SURF or visit www.acsurf.com.

The fun is just getting started in Atlantic City. For a complete list of entertainment, visit www.atlanticcitynj.com and click on the calendar of events.

Upcoming Events

Appel Farm Presents Singer Kierstin Gray May 2, 8 p.m. • 457 Shirley Rd., Elmer, NJ 856-358-2472 • www.appelfarm.org

Stone Harbor Sail Into Summer Weekend May 3, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. • Boat Show & Seafood Festival, 96th Street, Stone Harbor, NJ 609-886-8600 x 17 • www.visitnjshore.com

Children’s Festival May 3, noon - 4 p.m. • Historic Smithville, Village Greene, Rt. 9, Smithville, NJ 609-748-6160 • www.smithvillenj.com

24th Annual Ron Jaworski Celebrity Golf Classic and Poker Open May 3, 7 p.m. Poker Open Harrah’s Ballroom, Harrah’s Atlantic City May 4, 12:30 p.m. Ron Jaworski Celebrity Shoot-Out, Atlantic City Country Club May 5, 7:30 a.m. & 1 p.m. Ron Jaworski Celebrity Pro-Am, Atlantic City Country Club 888-505-7070

Ocean City Spring Block Party May 3, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. • 14th St., Asbury Ave., Ocean City, NJ • 609-525-9300 www.visitnjshore.com

16th Annual East Coast Boardwalk National Car Show May 8-11, 8 a.m. - 3p.m. • Boardwalk at the Wildwoods Convention Center, Wildwood, NJ 609-523-8051 • www.thundermoto.com

19th Annual Cape May Music Festival May 18 to June 15, times & locations vary Classical music concerts, Cape May, NJ 609-884-5404 • www.capemaymac.org Wildwoods

International Kite Festival May 23-26, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. • On the beach at Rio Grande Ave., Wildwood, NJ www.wildwoodsnj.com

Memorial Day Arts & Crafts Spectacular May 24, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. • Civic Center & Stadium, 6th St. & Boardwalk, Ocean City, NJ 800-822-4112 • www.oceancitychamber.com

Ocean City Flower Show & Boardwalk Spring Family Fun Fest Flower Show May 30-31, times vary. Spring Family Fun Fest May 31, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. Ocean City Boardwalk, Ocean City, NJ 609-525-9300 • 609-398-4662 www.oceancitychamber.com

Spring Thunder in the Sand Motocross Pro/Am May 30 – June 1 • Beach between Schellenger & Spencer Avenues, Wildwood, NJ 609-523-8051 • www.thundermoto.com

llya Averbukh's Ice Show May 31, 7 p.m. • Boardwalk Hall, 2301 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, NJ • 609-348-7000 www.boardwalkhall.com

By   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

With its white marble bar, stuccoed walls and flickering wrought iron lamps, the bar at Capriccio is reminiscent of a Mediterranean courtyard. But for all its genteel refinement, this is still a great place for Sex.

Sex on the Beach is the famous ’80s-era highball made with assorted fruit juices and a bracing slug of vodka. The cherry-topped cocktail also includes peach Schnapps (for a pink drink) or Midori and Chambord (the “sandy shorts” variety).

No matter your preference, the seasoned bartenders at Capriccio—at Resorts since 1979—can whip up all the Sexy variations. They also serve every known variation of the classic Cosmopolitan, plus specialty drinks like the Bellini (a Venetian blend of sparkling wine and peach nectar) and the Salty Dog (a wicked brew made with vodka or gin and grapefruit juice, served in a salted glass).

Drink fads come and go, and bartender Ulysses Green knows them all. His encyclopedic knowledge comes from 17 years of setting ’em up at Capriccio, 25 Hours and on weekends, Boogie Nights, the casino’s popular retro dance party.

“When I first started here and someone asked for a martini, you knew it was a gin martini,” says Green. “These days you have to ask, because the drinks change from day to day and week to week. Twenty years ago, a boilermaker was a beer and a bourbon. Now we’ve got the Jager Bomb—a shot glass with Jagermeister in a highball glass filled with Red Bull.”

As the bartenders keep pace with current cocktails, servers in the adjoining restaurant are as savvy as sommeliers when it comes to pairing spirits and cuisine. Chuck Belanger, vice president of food and beverage for Resorts, says the wait staff is specially trained to recommend wine, and guest stewards are regularly invited to preside over multi-course wine dinners. Want a light bite? The bar, which includes a cluster of tiny tables along the wall, also offers small-plate portions from the regular menu at Capriccio.

Among the most refreshing drinks at this friendly bar is the Garden State: a sweet mix of Midori, Grey Goose mandarin vodka and fruit juices. Green highly recommends it. We highly recommend Green, whose winning personality reflects a personal commitment to his customers.

“I’m 17 years here, because to leave would be like leaving home,” he says. “I stay because I’ve never seen anyone walk out who wasn’t smiling.”

By   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

No, it’s not the Culinary School, the Culinary Institute, Future Chefs of America or Food U. “It’s the Academy of Culinary Arts!” says an exasperated Kelly McClay, dean of the academy that produces several hundred gold-star chefs and bakers each year. “For some reason, we have terrible name recognition.”

Though people may bungle the name, they are increasingly aware of the reputation. Since 1981, the academy has graduated more than 2,300 culinary professionals who have gone on to work in Atlantic City and St. Moritz, New York and Miami Beach, London and Las Vegas. Noted alumni include Marvin Woods (Class of ’85), host of the cooking show Home Plate; Terence Feury (Class of ’88), executive chef at Fahrenheit at the Washington, D.C., Ritz Carlton; and Deb Pellegrino (Class of ’91), pastry chef at Showboat in Atlantic City.

The academy offers two-year associate degree programs in all aspects of food service, and students learn back-of-the-house management by working at the student-run restaurant, Careme’s. Right now, baking and pastry are popular courses, due in part to Food Network programs like Ace of Cakes.

“Interest is phenomenal, and the curriculum is so exciting,” says McClay. There’s a wedding cake class, an artisan bread class and “centerpiece artistry,” where students use pliable pastillage dough to create edible flowers and decorations.

Students also learn that the life of a celebrity chef as seen on reality TV is not the reality for most food professionals.

“It’s a tough business,” says McClay. “It’s a lot of work. But it’s very, very rewarding.”

And the job market is wide open. “The phone here rings incessantly from March to June,” McClay says.

“There are probably three jobs for every one of our graduates, and even in the off season we have tremendous recruitment from area casinos.”

Among those now at work in Atlantic City: 21-year-old Anthony Bell of Galloway, cooking for top chef Michael Mina at SeaBlue; and 24-year-old Jennifer Quig of Medford, an award-winning pastry chef at Buddakan and the Continental.

“The academy really equipped me for what I’m doing now,” says Quig, whose chocolate rendition of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” earned her a gold medal at the 2007 Salon of Culinary Art competition. “I learned the essentials, and certain teachers took me a step farther. They saw talent in me that I didn’t see in myself.”

“It was very easy getting a job because there’s such high demand around the city,” says Bell. “It’s amazing working with Chef Mina.”

Shawn Henry, 33, is now fulfilling a long-deferred dream: to be a chef.

“As a teenager I used to watch my grandmother cook,” Henry says. “I always knew I wanted to do culinary, but I didn’t have the patience or the time. Now I’m buckling down to finish my education. I have one more semester.”

His plan: to open a restaurant blending the Caribbean-Jamaican influences of his youth with a broader palate. Henry credits his confidence in the kitchen to his academy training.

“The people there are excellent, they are professional. They want to see you succeed.”

In February, when Chef Bruce Johns was named educator of the year by the South Jersey chapter of the American Culinary Federation, four presenters ascended the podium to honor him. Just one of the four, according to Kelly McClay, got the school’s name right. It bears repeating: the Academy of Culinary Arts.

CHEF'S CORNER

Taramind-Glazed Salmon

Chef Educator Linda Wohlman of the Academy of Culinary Arts created this tasty entrée; other original recipes are available at www.atlantic.edu/aca.

Ingredients (serves 4)

4 6-ounce fresh salmon filets Salsa:

1 cup pineapple, medium dice

1 cup papaya, medium dice

2 tbsp. diced red bell pepper

1 tbsp. cilantro, lightly chopped

2 tsp. fresh lime juice 1

/2 tsp. finely diced jalapeno pepper

1/2 tsp. ginger, finely diced

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and let flavors blend for at least two hours

Glaze: 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 tbsp. taramind concentrate

1 tbsp. pineapple juice

1 tsp. dark soy

1 tsp. ginger, finely diced

1/2 tsp. fresh lime juice

To Prepare

For glaze, combine all ingredients in a small sauce pot and bring to a simmer. The glaze will have the consistency of syrup.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place salmon on a pan, allowing enough space between each piece of fish for easy removal. Brush each piece of salmon with the glaze and put in oven for 10 minutes. Glaze the salmon again and bake another 5 to 10 minutes to desired doneness.

Plate salmon with salsa and a wedge of lime. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve with jasmine or wild rice, roasted red bliss potatoes or mashed sweet potatoes.

Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Billions have been invested in Atlantic City since that first high roller’s toss of the dice, and Atlantic City’s famous Boardwalk is a beneficiary. In 2006, the Atlantic City Boardwalk Revitalization Project was approved as part of a $99 million bond issue from the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority. Redevelopment and beautification projects include:

• The $90 million renovation of Boardwalk Hall. The CRDA engaged Historic Building Architects LLC for design standards. New storefronts feature brick, stucco, cupolas and new rooflines.

• The renovation of the Brighton Park fountain.

• Renovations of the 1500 block between Kentucky and New York avenues and the 2500 block between Texas and Bellevue, along with a new band shell and stage at Kennedy Plaza.

• Construction is currently under way at the 3000 block between Chelsea and Morris avenues, the 2600 block between California and Texas avenues, and the 1400 block between New York Avenue and St. James Place. It should be completed by summer.

• The CRDA has engaged architectural and engineering firms to design new facades for the Ritz, Child’s restaurant, Jersey Joe’s Arcade, and street-ends between the 2600 and 2500 blocks of the Boardwalk at Texas Avenue. The city and merchants will include outside landscaping, lighting and seating areas.

• The CRDA will also coordinate designs for the beach side of the Boardwalk after meeting with city officials and the community.

With the tax dollars they generate for improvements, the casinos through the CRDA have provided diversified experiences for Boardwalk visitors including the Pier Shops, the House of Blues and the Tropicana Quarter and themed family venues like Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum, Rain Forest and Planet Hollywood.

Smaller private investors such as Sigano’s Management Group have added restaurants and attractions alongside the casinos. The result: a broad market mix that is attracting not only visitors, but new tenants.

And with $10 billion in planned redevelopment across the city—including two new casino hotels on the Boardwalk—the historic Wooden Way is looking better and better.

By Joseph Harrison   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Atlantic City has always been an entertainment destination. Whether it was Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the 500 Club or the Beatles at Atlantic City Convention Hall, the city has had its share of great headliners. It got even better in 1978 when Resorts International opened its doors and eventually solidified itself—and Atlantic City—as an entertainment mecca that continues to grow today.

Here are 10 of the most important acts to come to Atlantic City in the last 30 years.

Frank Sinatra (April 12, 1979)

Before the million-dollar contracts that seem so prevalent today, Frank Sinatra was the highest paid entertainer in Atlantic City with his first Resorts show landing him the then-eye-popping salary of $50,000 per show.

Vincent Falcone, who conducted Sinatra’s orchestra for a 1978 benefit appearance for the Atlantic City Medical Center at Convention Hall, returned for Sinatra’s Resorts debut, the first concert in a three-year, multimillion-dollar deal the Chairman of the Board signed with the first casino in town.

Sinatra did more than bring in high rollers for Resorts. He solidified the casino’s—and Atlantic City’s—reputation as a top-notch entertainment resort to rival Las Vegas, where he was a regular. Once Sinatra’s peers saw that he was coming home to New Jersey to perform, it opened the floodgates for other top names, beginning the entertainment renaissance for Atlantic City that’s growing by the year.

Sinatra appeared in commercials for Resorts, attended player events and often brought celebrity friends with him, including Faye Dunaway and Sophia Loren.

His first appearance, like most that followed, was sold out. And he still holds the record for the largest single mail order of James’ saltwater taffy, sending more than 500 boxes to friends and relatives the morning after his first performance.

The Beach Boys (July 4, 1983)

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan’s interior secretary James Watt banished one of the most popular American bands in history from performing in Washington, D.C., because he felt their concerts attracted an undesirable audience.

That band: the Beach Boys.

Management at Caesars Atlantic City pounced on the opportunity to bring the Beach Boys to town. They shelled out $100,000 for a Fourth of July beach concert that not only generated a bundle of national publicity for the casino and the city but attracted 300,000 people who jammed into a narrow stretch of beach between Arkansas and Tennessee avenues facing the Ocean One Mall (now the Pier Shops at Caesars).

The event, which Chevrolet sponsored and kicked in another $100,000 for, didn’t do a lot for slots and tables the day of the event, but it put Caesars and Atlantic City in the spotlight. Even the Beach Boys, who graciously agreed to meet and greets with high rollers, couldn’t believe the size of the crowd.

Meanwhile, Reagan and Washington, D.C., spent the Fourth with Wayne Newton. Atlantic City definitely got the better end of the deal.

Luciano Pavarotti (October 29, 1983)

The late, great tenor loved performing here. In fact, Pavarotti said the three U.S. cities he performed in most were Miami, New York and Atlantic City. That love affair began in 1983 in a heated five-story tent constructed next to Resorts Atlantic City, the current location of Trump Taj Mahal’s Etess Arena.

Then 48 years old, Pavarotti performed a concert of arias in a show produced by Ventnor promoter Frank Gelb. Accompanied by the 87-piece New Jersey Symphony, he sang flawless renditions of “O Paradiso” and “Pourquoi Me Reveiller,” but the production had a slew of technical issues. Originally intended for 4,500 people, the tent was expanded to 8,000 seats, which was probably the first mistake. Noisy gas heaters and a brisk wind that caused the top of the tent to whistle certainly didn’t help. But the crowd didn’t seem to mind.

For more than two hours after the show, Pavarotti showed his graciousness by signing thousands of commemorative posters.

The Rolling Stones (December 17, 19 and 20, 1989)

It was a Christmas present Atlantic City audiences never thought they would get. Twenty-three years after playing a 1966 show at the Steel Pier, the Rolling Stones brought their Steel Wheels tour to town for three shows at Boardwalk Hall in 1989.

The second of three shows was broadcast live on pay-per-view, and the Trump casinos, the organizers of the event, pulled out all of stops with special guests Eric Clapton, John Lee Hooker, Guns ’N Roses singer Axl Rose and guitarist Izzy Stradlin.

It was the Stones’ first tour in seven years, and all eyes were on Atlantic City that weekend as they earned what is still a record $4 million for the concerts. It was a far cry from the $10,000 paid them in 1966, when patrons paid $2 to see them (along with the diving horse).

The Fox TV network later broadcast the shows free; they are still three of the most widely traded bootlegged performances. The Stones belted out classics like ‘Start Me Up,” “Sympathy for the Devil,” “Gimme Shelter” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” The Guns members joined them on “Salt of the Earth,” and Clapton played a spectacular solo on “Little Red Rooster.”

Van Halen (August 22, 1998)

In the 1990s, Atlantic City entertainment seemed at a relative standstill. While big acts certainly made their way to town occasionally, hard rock acts and current top headiners rarely were booked at the casinos.

Trump Marina changed all of that when it booked Van Halen to play outdoors for 4,000 fans in a sold-out concert series dubbed “Rock the Dock.”

Van Halen with then-new lead singer Gary Cherone was performing to 20,000-plus-seat arenas. While the band put on a great show, it was the aftershock that really mattered. A month later, Prince played in the Marina’s 1,500-seat ballroom after selling out Madison Square Garden the day before. Two months after that, Sting played the same room. Eventually, other top rockers like the Stone Temple Pilots would also play there.

Guitarist Eddie Van Halen was on fire, ripping into extended, lightning-speed solos, and the band played a mix of hits like “Unchained,” “Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love” and “Jamie’s Cryin’.” With the Atlantic City skyline and bay serving as the backdrop, the “Rock the Dock” concerts, including Hootie and the Blowfish and Bad Company, remain some of the most memorable in Atlantic City history.

Britney Spears (December 1, 2001)

Before Boardwalk Hall received a $90 million facelift, acts like Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney and Elton John never considered coming here.

That changed in December 2001, when the renovated Boardwalk Hall opened with headliner Britney Spears. Before her well-documented emotional breakdown, Spears was the hottest celebrity on the planet, and she celebrated the night before her 20th birthday by breaking in the new state-of-the-art facility. More than 13,000 people packed the Hall, whose huge production package included video screens, a fashion show-like runway, a circle that spun the pop princess around, hydraulic platforms, smoke and wind machines, pyrotechnics and a stellar light and laser show. Water even fell from the ceiling.

The concert went off without a hitch, and Boardwalk Hall is now the most successful mid-size arena in the country.

Paul McCartney (September 28, 2002 )

It took 38 years for Paul McCartney to return to Atlantic City, but it was worth the wait.

Sir Paul hadn’t played in Atlantic City since the Beatles created havoc here in 1964. And while the scene at Boardwalk Hall was a lot less frantic—there were no fainting girls this time round and not nearly as much security—it was just as entertaining.

The former Beatle cranked out the hits for 14,000 fans who paid up to $250 per ticket (as much as $500 to scalpers). The 36-song set included more than 20 Beatles songs, six Wings tunes and the rest solo material, including songs from his album Driving Rain, which he was touring to support.

At 60 years old, McCartney still sounded tremendous in a concert that was high in production values, including large video screens, an acting troupe, fireworks and shooting flames. Standout tunes that night included “Jet,” “Blackbird,” “We Can Work It Out,” “Back in the U.S.S.R” and “Let It Be.”

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (March 7, 2003)

Over the years, casinos have made more offers to Bruce Springsteen than perhaps any other entertainer in history. The prospect of landing New Jersey’s most popular and respected musician is obviously attractive to casinos looking to bolster their bottom lines, but for years Springsteen wouldn’t come, saying he didn’t want to be tied to a casino.

It took a renovated Boardwalk Hall, Live Nation and promises of no casino involvement to finally convince Springsteen and his E Street Band to come to the town. Springsteen’s first headlining gig in Atlantic City drew a sold-out crowd of 14,000, and fans were treated to a performance unlike any other on The Rising tour. Springsteen opened with “Atlantic City” instead of the tour’s title song, then thrilled the crowd with “Prove It All Night,” “Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?” “It’s Hard to be a Saint in the City” and a solo piano version of “Jersey Girl.”

Performing for nearly three hours, Springsteen also played a Beatles cover, “Tell Me Why,” along with fan favorites “Glory Days” and “Born to Run.” He closed with a rarity, “Roll of the Dice,” obviously appropriate for Atlantic City.

He reminisced about seeing his first rock show in Atlantic City (Chubby Checker at the Steel Pier) and had as much fun as the audience. And two years later, he was back for a solo concert.

Barbra Streisand (November 4, 2006)

Barbra Streisand wasn’t a complete stranger to Atlantic City when she made her post-casino debut. The music and film legend came to town as actor Don Johnson’s companion at the Mike Tyson-Larry Holmes fight in 1988, and also showed up for political rallies in 1964, when the Democratic National Convention was here and Streisand was doing Funny Girl on Broadway.

Even though casinos courted her before (including a bid from Trump Taj Mahal for a pay-per-view special to open the Mark G. Etess Arena), Streisand did not make her debut as a headliner until the age of 64, in a concert presented by Caesars Atlantic City. She didn’t disappoint.

The only entertainer to ever win Oscar, Emmy, Tony, Golden Globe, Grammy, Peabody and Cable Ace awards as well as the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award, Streisand commanded what was then the highest ticket price ever for an Atlantic City concert: $850.

Onstage, the chatty diva talked about walking the Boardwalk, dining at Caesars and even shopping in a dollar store. The vocal liberal even brought out a bumbling George W. Bush impersonator, which got a few laughs but also incited some heckling.

The most successful female recording artist of all time opened the show with “Starting Here, Starting Now” and continued with other big hits from her 40-year career, including “The Way We Were,” “People” and “Evergreen (Love Theme From A Star is Born) accompanied by a 58-piece orchestra.

Billy Joel at Borgata (July 21, 2007)

He vowed that he would never—ever—play in an Atlantic City casino. But Borgata somehow (probably with lots of money) convinced Billy Joel to finally take the stage in July 2007. To mark the casino’s fourth anniversary, Joel played a closed show for invited guests only. Although the terms of the deal were never divulged, it’s rumored he was paid around $1 million.

The 2,200 VIPs who packed the Event Center were treated to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Joel in an intimate venue. He performed nearly 20 of his biggest hits, including “Allentown,” “Movin’ Out,” “Only the Good Die Young” and his signature song, “Piano Man.” The crowd danced for almost the whole evening.

Chatting with fans including Sopranos stars, New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin and other celebrities, Joel told stories and funny anecdotes and seemed to have a great time. So did the audience.

By   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

On Monday, May 26, Steve Callender of Resorts will make a tandem skydive from 10,000 feet high above Atlantic City. When he lands, it will mark 30 years of gaming and Callender’s own 30-year casino career in Atlantic City. A graduate of Glassboro State College, the day-one dealer at Resorts became a supervisor, manager and director before becoming vice president of casino operations in 1993.

In 1997, Callender moved to the Atlantic City Hilton. On his last day at Resorts, he got a standing ovation. “As he made his final exit,” says President Tony Rodio, “casino employees and customers stopped and applauded in his honor.”

But it wasn’t Callender’s final exit. In 2006, after two years at the Hilton and seven years at Bally’s, he returned as Resorts’ senior vice president of operations, overseeing everything from slot machine operations and table games to food and beverage and information technology.

He spoke with Casino Connection Editor Frank Legato and Managing Editor Marjorie Preston about the past and present, the promise and the ongoing challenges of Atlantic City.

Casino Connection: What was the mood on May 26, 1978, when the doors opened here at Resorts and the dealers first went to work?

Steve Callender: A lot of nervous excitement. We had learned enough to handle the games, but we’d never actually done it. It was something new for us. Many of the customers didn’t really know the games, but they had money with them and they wanted to play. We all kind of helped each other learn.

Were they waiting at the doors back then, waiting to burst through?

It was wall-to-wall people. I was on the day shift, and just before 10 a.m. we’d see people standing in line, itching to get in. When they dropped the gates, in they’d run, just like kids going to Steel Pier. We worked from the minute we started until the minute we got pushed out by the swing shift.

How did your career unfold?

I was always a table guy. I spent about a year and a half as a scheduling super, and some people caught the fact that I could take care of things administratively and had a good handle for dealing with people. That led into other areas. I became casino manager and vice president of casino operations, where slots reported to me.

When Caesars opened and Bally’s opened and all these other properties, people started to get promoted by moving to other places. Moving from house to house, you could be a dealer one year, a box person the next year, then a floor person and a pit manager… So in the early days, you could really move through the system quickly. Some people changed properties to move ahead. Some people stayed at home here to work their way through the ranks. We started to grow the business and add games, so there was a lot of opportunity and a lot of talent.

Did you oversee the daily operations of marketing?

I do now. That’s on the newer side for me, with hotel and food and beverage, so I have the full gamut. But boy, I tell you, if you’re the table guy in the middle of the night, you practically run the whole place; you’re the highest ranking guy here at 3 o’clock in the morning and you end up delving into a lot of those areas—hotel problems, marketing problems, F&B problems.

At the start, did you have to make things up as you went along?

Because of the lack of licenses, we had to do all kinds of different jobs. Not only did we deal, but we counted the coin, we worked in soft count sometimes, counting the cash… You had to move around the floor, and people learned on the fly.

Casino marketing has changed a lot over the years. Once it was people getting off the bus and having coins thrown at them. When did that start to change?

That’s never changed. Actually, when we first opened the only marketing was free drinks; you didn’t need to give a lot away because there was nowhere else to play. Nowadays you have to market every day or you’re not going to have enough customers to make your numbers. We went through some silly marketing wars over the years, but we’re smarter about it now, so customers can get value for their dollar, and we’re not stepping on each other as much as we once did.

Do you have a “school of customer service” for employees?

I try to lead by example. I get out on the floor and into the restaurant and let people know they’re supposed to have a good time. This is the entertainment business. People are coming here to get away from their problems, and we’re here to help them. We believe that. We talk about it at meetings. It’s a culture thing. I’ve been in some places where it seemed like no one was having any fun. That’s not good.

You started as a dealer. You are now senior vice president of operations. Does that potential for advancement remain?

We’re looking for talent; we reward those people and make room for them. There are people coming up now who are a lot smarter than I am, young folks who are new to the industry but boy, they’re double-smart and they help us run this business. At this property in particular, though there are 125 people who have been here 30 years, I can show you another 125 who’ve been here five years or less, who have a lot on the ball and are making names for themselves. I think the cream always rises to the top.

Are we finally taking Atlantic City to a destination city rather than a day-trip city?

I certainly hope so. When you build a beautiful tower like the Rendezvous, people never want to leave. At the same time, they don’t want to sit in front of a slot machine all the time. We’re providing much more than the gaming experience now—midweek entertainment, retail—but I wish we had better transportation from the airport to get people in here.

You also have Boogie Nights.

Boogie Nights is a home run. It’s a hoot, and it just gets better and better. Every Saturday night there’s a great-looking crowd from all walks of life and they really enjoy it.

Three decades from now, do you think the full promise of Atlantic City will be fulfilled?

I hope it is. Obviously, we went through spells when it seemed like we weren’t getting anything done. What’s important is to get the hotel rooms and have a good experience outside the casinos. The Walk the new Convention Center help. I have every hope that we’ll keep moving forward. Even though you can play in Philadelphia and other states, you don’t get the full experience of Atlantic City anywhere but Atlantic City. Las Vegas doesn’t have an ocean.

Have you ever wanted to defect to Las Vegas or another jurisdiction?

I could see myself working in Vegas. It’s a beautiful place. But I’m a Jersey guy. This is where my heart is.

You’re going to jump out of a plane to mark the anniversary. Are you crazy?

Maybe! They wanted someone who was here on the first day of gaming to be involved. I took it as my responsibility, and I’m doing it for all the guys I worked with, all the ladies, some of whom are not here anymore. I hope it’s fun. We’ll see.

By Casino Connection Staff   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

"Sheldon will never develop a casino in a jurisdiction where he would have to allow his workers to unionize." —MGM Mirage Chairman Terry Lanni on Sheldon Adelson’s recent statement that he would never develop in Atlantic City

"Whenever casino owners go before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, it would be easier if Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille kept a rubber stamp handy that said ‘APPROVED.’" —Editorial in the Philadelphia Inquirer complaining that Pennsylvania’s high court has unduly favored slot casino owners in its decisions, the latest being its mandate for the city of Philadelphia to grant zoning permits to Foxwoods

"I can’t imagine what the staff and management have been through." —Former Harrah’s executive Robert “Tom” Dingman, who has been appointed trustee of Casino Aztar in Evansville, Indiana, while the deal to sell the property to Eldorado Resorts from Columbia Sussex is completed

"If they’re going to do it, they should do it now." —Trump Entertainment CEO Mark Juliano, calling on Atlantic City Council to act now if its intention is to impose a total smoking ban on Atlantic City casinos, rather than waiting until casinos have already built enclosures to comply with the current partial smoking ban

"Will gaming continue to slide as spring approaches? We believe the answer is a resounding yes." —Deutsche Bank analyst Andrew Zarnett, commenting that the nation’s economic woes are leaving consumers with little disposable income for gambling, which does not bode well for the industry

By Casino Connection Staff   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Two states last month rejected gaming as a new revenue source and generator of jobs and infrastructure improvements. Freshman governors elected on the pledge to approve casinos showed their lack of political acumen in the defeats.

The three regional casino bills proposed by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick were defeated after days of arm-twisting by House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, who preferred other solutions to the state’s budget crisis. Even before the vote, Patrick conceded that the bill stood little chance of passage. During his appearance before a House committee and hundreds of supporters, including union members in hard hats, he said, “I have no illusions about the plans in the House for this legislation… What you do in this committee will determine whether that full and open debate is even possible.”

Anticipating a loss in the House, state Senator Steven Panagiotakos, chairman of the Senate Ways & Means Committee, proposed a referendum in November to poll the public. Since the measure would require passage in both houses, DiMasi could still bottle it up.

In Kentucky, Governor Steve Beshear declared his floundering casino bill dead, at least for now. Beshear, a Democrat, says casinos could plug a projected $900 million budget deficit and forestall severe cuts in government services. He has advanced casino gambling as a way to fund education and vows that the fight for casinos isn’t over.

“We’ll see how things develop as we approach the 2010 session, to see what might be possible at that time,” he said. “It’s time to let the people decide.”

By Casino Connection Staff   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

The Maryland General Assembly wrapped up its 90-day session last month with one question: Will state voters approve a fall referendum to legalize 15,000 slot machines across the state?

“That’s still a big question mark on the horizon here,” O’Malley told reporters during a bill-signing session last week. “We’re more dependent on that than I would like.”

O’Malley is depending on slots to help close a $1.5 billion budget deficit. The state’s horsemen are depending on it to revive a failing industry. Educators are depending on slots for an estimated $500 million of new funding annually. The Maryland State Teachers Association, the state’s largest teacher’s union, last month joined the Maryland Association of Counties to support the referendum.

But slots still faces fierce opposition, most of it from within O’Malley’s own Democratic party and state government. Comptroller Peter Franchot, the public face of the anti-slot campaign, has railed against slots as much as the governor has stumped for it. On the other side is For Maryland, For Our Future, a pro-slots group, and the financial might of the gaming industry and its lobbyists.

The pro-slot side is joined by the racing industry, although support has been lukewarm from companies like Magna Entertainment, whose flagship Laurel Park racetrack was excluded from the list of slot locations in O’Malley’s referendum bill. Last month, the Maryland Racing Commission urged O’Malley and slot supporters to include Laurel and Ocean Downs on the list. The tracks are the only ones excluded under the governor’s plan.

In any event, the budget crisis seems likely to push the pro-slot forces over the top. “We have momentum,” said Craig Varoga, a consultant for the pro-slot group, in an interview with the Baltimore Sun. “The reason everyone is united on this, and the reason we have such broad support in the coalition, is that it's pretty clear from wherever you sit that the state budget is going to be in a significant crisis if the referendum fails.”

By Casino Connection Staff   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

By Casino Connection Staff   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

By Casino Connection Staff   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Visit the Atlantic City Aquarium and the IMAX showing of “Dolphins & Whales 3-D” and get two tickets for less than the price of one.

A ticket to the IMAX show, valued at $11.95, is available for $7.95 Tuesdays through July 1. By presenting the IMAX ticket stub at the Aquarium, admission for children (usually $4) is $3.50, and admission for adults (usually $7) is $6.50. There is a limit of six tickets per party: the discounts are available only on Tuesdays.

For more information visit www.oceanlifecenter.com or www.tropicana.net.

By Casino Connection Staff   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

With days to spare, onetime Atlantic City casino operator Tropicana Entertainment negotiated an extension giving it “significant” extra time to pay off $960 million in outstanding bonds. The bonds went into default last December when the company lost its New Jersey gaming license, forcing it to sell the Tropicana Casino Hotel.

A relieved company President Scott Butera, who came on board in March to guide the embattled company through recapitalization, said, “We’ve bought ourselves time to hopefully negotiate … with our note holders.”

Without the extension, bondholders could have demanded immediate payment of the $960 million, which could have forced the company into bankruptcy. Tropicana’s parent company, Columbia Sussex, carries a total of $2.7 billion in debt, largely due to its January 2007 takeover of Aztar Corp., former owner of Tropicana Entertainment. At the time, CEO William Yung III planned to make his casinos more profitable by cutting costs. “Our company is very motivated by the bottom line,” he said at the time.

In Atlantic City, that plan proved disastrous. After massive layoffs that led to substandard conditions at the casino hotel, the company was deemed unfit to operate and lost its license. It planned to repay its senior debt with proceeds of the sale of the Trop and other assets; Eldorado Resorts recently offered $245 million for Casino Aztar in Evansville, Indiana.

But nervous bondholders were not satisfied. Concerned that the company had insufficient collateral to cover the debt, they pressed for immediate repayment or a default judgment.

Both the Atlantic City and Evansville properties are now under the control of state-appointed trustees, pending sale. Acknowledged bidders for the Atlantic City property include Colony Capital LLC, owner of Resorts and the Hilton, a private New York investment firm led by Joseph Palladino, and Gomes+Cordish, an alliance of former Trop President Dennis Gomes and the Cordish Company, a Baltimore development firm. A sale is expected by summer.

By Casino Connection Staff   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Borgata will host its first-ever $500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool Deep Stack Poker Tournament Sunday, May 4 through Tuesday, May 6 in the Poker Room.

It’s the largest guaranteed poker tournament in Atlantic City history, offering players the chance to enjoy a championship-style event for a total buy-in of $2,150.

"With a half-million dollar guaranteed prize pool and a lucrative tournament structure with 30,000 starting chips, the tournament provides poker enthusiasts an opportunity to showcase their skills and get ready for the Borgata Summer Open in June," says Ray Stefanelli, director of poker marketing. Visit www.theborgata.com. for more infomation

By Casino Connection Staff   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

‘ Jaws’ is back in town with the 24th annual Ron Jaworski Celebrity Golf Classic, May 3-5 at Harrah’s and the Atlantic City Country Club. This year’s tournament benefits the United Way Jaws Youth Fund for young people at risk in Camden County.

The weekend starts at 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 3 with the Ron Jaworski Poker Open, a no-limit Texas Hold-em game in the Harrah’s Ballroom. Anyone can participate by buying in the night of the event.

At 12:30 p.m. Sunday, May 4, 10 teams will compete for $100,000 in the Ron Jaworski Celebrity Shoot-Out at the Atlantic City Country Club.

Back at the country club on Monday, May 5, join more than 60 celebrities for the Ron Jaworski Celebrity Pro-Am, a scramble format golf tournament teeing off at 7:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. The Jaws Youth Fund has raised more than $1.5 million for the United Way. For more information call Pinnacle Management at 888-505-7070.

By Casino Connection Staff   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

The blast could be heard for miles as demolition crews imploded the former Sands Casino’s nine-story parking garage in the early morning hours of April 3. In the aftermath, clouds of dust filled the air and drifted through the alleyways around the rubble.

The implosion of the garage paled in comparison to the implosion last October of the legendary casino. That event drew tens of thousands of cheering spectators and made headlines around the world. By contrast, last month’s blast—set off at 7 a.m.— drew some casino personnel, a few dozen reporters and a handful of curious onlookers.

The implosion and the April 21 dismantling of the nearby Brighton Park “people mover” will make way for Pinnacle Atlantic City’s planned $1.5 billion mega-casino resort, which may be delayed due to a tenuous credit market. Pinnacle bought the old Sands casino and adjoining beachfront property for $250 million in late 2006.

By Casino Connection Staff   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

By late last month, the unanimous support of City Council made a 100 percent smoking ban seem all but certain for Atlantic City’s casinos. Now casino operators in the city are hoping for similar bans in Pennsylvania and across the nation.

Atlantic City had pointed to out-of-state gaming—and the fact that smokers are still welcome in Pennsylvania casinos—as reasons its revenues dipped in 2007. Atlantic City saw a 5.7 percent decline last year over 2006; though the numbers were up slightly in February, they plummeted again in March by almost 10 percent.

Currently, smoking is permitted on one-fourth of Atlantic City’s casino floors. A full ban means operators will have until October 15 to build dedicated smoking rooms or prohibit smoking altogether.

Though Donald Trump decried the decision because it gives Pennsylvania a competitive edge, Pennsylvania may soon enact its own smoking ban, and similar bans are becoming widespread throughout the East. Delaware included casinos in a comprehensive 2002 smoking ban. New York and Connecticut banned smoking everywhere but Indian casinos (and legislators says Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods are next). Maryland banned smoking for most indoor settings in February.

Now casino operators who once balked at smoking bans hope for a nationwide ban that will end the discussion once and for all.

By Casino Connection Staff   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Contrary to recent reports that Donald Trump will not sell off any of his Atlantic City properties, Trump Entertainment Resorts issued a statement last month saying that the chairman, principal shareholder and Celebrity Apprentice star “might pursue a transaction if presented with an offer … in the best interests of our shareholders.”

On March 31, The Donald and daughter Ivanka (his company’s vice president of real estate development) came to town to top off the aptly named Chairman Tower at Trump Taj Mahal. At the time, Trump said his casinos are “doing very nicely.” Of the new tower, he boasted, “It’s going to be spectacular. It’s going to set a new standard in Atlantic City for quality and luxury.”

Though shares of Trump stock hit a record low last month, the Trump casinos fared better than most in March, with revenue declines smaller than the 9.9 percent industry-wide drop.

Trump, who is not presently in negotiations to sell, says he is focused on improving performance at his three properties. Taj Mahal is the best performing, with gaming revenues last year of $508.5 million (landing it in fifth place among Atlantic City’s 11 casinos). Trump Plaza and Trump Marina brought up the rear, with $280.3 million and $241.9 million respectively.

The $250 million Chairman Tower, designed as to draw more high rollers and conventioneers, should prove a good investment. With 782 guest rooms (including 74 suites) and three meeting rooms, it will connect to the Taj at the Spice Road level.

By Casino Connection Staff   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. has announced that it will change its name to Caesars Entertainment, pending regulatory approvals.

In 2005, Caesars Entertainment merged with Harrah’s, creating the world’s largest gaming operator.

Harrah’s officials say the company, which remains the namesake of its founder, gaming legend Bill Harrah, will make the change to capitalize on the international name recognition enjoyed by the Caesars brand, and “to appeal to customers attracted by its connotation of luxury, opulence and world-renowned entertainment, dining and shopping options.”

“The name Caesars Entertainment Corporation will provide our company with greater prestige and help attract strategic business partners,” said Gary Loveman, Harrah’s chairman, president and chief executive officer.

The Harrah’s name will continue to be one of the company’s three primary casino brands, along with Caesars and Horseshoe.

The name change followed the announcement of several key additions to Harrah’s board of directors, including NFL Hall of Fame receiver and sports broadcaster Lynn Swann. Also added to the board: Charles Atwood, vice chairman of the company since 2006; Jean Jackson, founder and chief executive officer of private investment company MSP Capital; and Christopher Williams, chairman and CEO of investment bank Williams Capital Group.

By Casino Connection Staff   Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Resorts Atlantic City is going all out to celebrate its 30th year, and everyone’s invited. The first casino to open in Atlantic City, Resorts has always been savvy about using its vintage facade to mark a milestone. For Resorts’ six-year anniversary, the casino hung a giant King Kong from the face of the former Haddon Hall, and in 2004 Resorts had an acrobatic troupe dance down the front of the elegant, Art-Deco inspired Rendezvous Tower. For its 30th, Resorts will not disappoint.

The celebration kicks off Friday, May 23 with a spectacular fireworks display from the rooftop that will be visible for miles around. Afterward the party moves indoors, where popular DJ Big Joe Henry of NJ 101.5-FM will preside over a 70s-vintage dance party at Boogie Nights. On Saturday and Sunday, May 24 and 25, singer Natalie Cole provides the keynote for the weekend with two “Unforgettable” concerts at Resorts’ Superstar Theater. On Sunday, Resorts will give away 300 flat panel televisions to qualified players.

The festivities culminate on Monday, May 26 with a spectacular aerial show courtesy of Freefall Adventures. At 11:30 a.m., 30 skydivers—including Resorts Senior VP of Operations Steve Callender, in a tandem jump—will take to the skies and form the number 30, accompanied by a red, white and blue smoke display.

After the skydivers land on the beach, Callender will present a pair of ceremonial dice for a reenactment of 1978’s first dice throw. It will take place on an oversized craps table on the Boardwalk in front of Resorts.

Then the block party begins at North Carolina Avenue and the Boardwalk with live entertainment, a barbecue and a live remote broadcast from The Shark, Classic Rock 103.7-FM.

“We designed our 30-year celebration so it can be enjoyed by our guests, employees, alumni and all who spend Memorial Day Weekend in Atlantic City,” says President Tony Rodio. “The fireworks and sky dive are for all Boardwalk visitors to enjoy, and our block party will be the ultimate Memorial Day barbeque.

“Personally, I can’t wait to reminisce and reconnect with the people I’ve had the pleasure of working with over the years!”

Mon, Apr 28, 2008

It’s been said that customer service comes not from a manual but from the heart—an important motto for those of us who work in Atlantic City.

Whether you’re at the front desk or in the back office, your attitude shows. All it takes is a smile, a kind word or a gesture of generosity to make or break a visitor’s vacation in Atlantic City; experts even advise service personnel to smile when dealing with people on the phone, because customers can “hear” you smile.

Our beach and Boardwalk, entertainment and nightlife, dining and casinos all combine to make Atlantic City one of the premiere vacation resorts on the East Coast. But it’s the little things—like common courtesy and hospitality—that bring people back again and again.

That’s why outstanding customer service is an integral part of Atlantic City’s continued success as a tourist destination. And that’s why the Atlantic City Host Awards are so important.

On Wednesday, May 14, more than 500 people will assemble in the Adrian Phillips Ballroom at Boardwalk Hall to honor those in hospitality who consistently put their best foot forward. Twenty-six winners will be chosen. Categories include Best Bartender, Best Host/Hostess and Best Retail Sales Associate. There are several new categories this year including Best Valet, Best Door Person, Best Bell Person, Best Reservationist and Best Spa Personnel.

These are the people who represent the highest standards of hospitality in Atlantic City. Sponsored by the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority, the Host Awards will be the event of the year for those who walk away winners.

Each year we also give the Spirit of Hospitality award to an outstanding individual who has made a significant long-term contribution to the region’s hospitality and travel industry. Past winners include former State Senator William Gormley; Henrietta Shelton, co-founder of the Chicken Bone Beach Historical Foundation; talk show host and columnist Pinky Kravitz; James A. Crawford, former executive director of the South Jersey Transportation Authority; Don Guardian, executive director of the Atlantic City Special Improvement District; and Atlantic City historian and author Vicki Gold Levi.

This year, that award is being presented to Greater Atlantic City Chamber President Joe Kelly. Joe is and always has been a stalwart supporter of Atlantic City. Six years ago, he partnered with the city, the 177th Fighter Wing of the Air National Guard and Borgata to bring an airshow to Atlantic City. The committee partnered with David Schultz Airshows to develop the event. With the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds as the headliners, the show was named “Thunder over the Boardwalk,” signifying a one-of-a-kind show at a one-of-a-kind destination.

I don’t have to tell you what a resounding success the Atlantic City Airshow has been, bringing an average of 400,000 people to the beach and Boardwalk each August.

The airshow alone would be sufficient reason for Joe to receive this award. But he’s also had a long and distinguished career. Under his leadership, the Atlantic City Chamber’s membership and budget have more than tripled. Joe implemented a merger between the chambers of Atlantic City and Atlantic County. And since then, the Chamber has continued to grow with the development of an active Business Advocacy Department, Boardwalk Business Committee, and Community Development Corporation.

For more information, visit www.atlanticcitynj.com and click on 2008 Atlantic City Host Awards, or call chairwoman Jacqueline Carole at 609-449-7174. And see you at the Host Awards.

Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Atlantic City’s casino industry recently agreed to give $90 million over three years to sustain New Jersey’s horse racing industry. In exchange, slot machines will not be installed at New Jersey’s racetracks through 2011.

Why did our industry agree to this subsidy? Because it beats the alternative. Slot machines at racetracks would have had a devastating impact on Atlantic City’s casino operators and threatened the significant growth planned for our industry.

Why were we “asked” to do this? That answer isn’t so easy, particularly when you consider the benefits derived from New Jersey’s casinos. The casino industry already employs more than 42,000 people who hold good-paying jobs with solid benefits. We generate more than $1.1 billion annually in taxes and fees, not to mention more than $2 billion spent every year on goods and services from businesses all across New Jersey (which generates another 20,000 jobs).

These economic benefits will increase significantly with the billions in capital investment planned in new and existing casinos. These investments will create thousands of construction jobs and permanent jobs for New Jersey residents.

By contrast, New Jersey’s horse racing industry—like its counterparts all across the nation—suffers from longstanding declines in its fan base. Is it good public policy to ask an industry that continues to be an economic engine for the state, with tremendous growth potential, to donate millions to prop up a dying industry that has done little to help itself? We’ve been told that the subsidy is justified because the introduction of casino gaming started the decline of horse racing.

We dispute this, and ask another question in response: Even if it’s true, why should any industry be penalized because it has proven public appeal? Capitalism is based on the principle that industries offering better products that attract more customers should reap the benefits. Ford and GM put a lot more horses out to pasture than casinos ever did, yet we’re handed a bill simply because we offer what customers want.

When the new agreement expires in 2011, the casinos will have spent $176 million on subsidies to the horse racing industry, yet in the race to become self-sustaining, horse racing is still stuck in the gate. In 2001, New Jersey changed the law to allow the tracks to build 15 off-track wagering facilities. The first opened last year and there are still only two. Nationwide, more than 88 percent of the wagers on thoroughbred races occur at OTWs; the success of the first two in-state OTWs clearly indicates a demand for these types of facilities.

Similar delays occurred in establishing account wagering, another potential revenue source. Wouldn’t sound public policy demand that the horse racing industry be held accountable for using the resources available before it receives another handout?

Horse racing proponents argue that the solution is slots at the tracks, but that flies in the face of what’s happening around the country. Live wagering on horse races and on-track attendance has been declining for decades. Even in states with slot machines at racetracks, attendance and live wagering have continued their downward spiral.

“There’s no correlation” between slots and the number of people attracted to horseracing, says George Sidiropolis, member of the West Virginia Racing Commission. “It’s inverse, in fact.” Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick says he will not support slots at the racetracks because of the lack of economic impact (he does support full-scale casinos). The Kentucky legislature amended casino legislation to specifically remove provisions requiring casinos at racetracks. And live betting on horse races in Delaware has dropped 40 percent since slots came online in 1996.

More and more states around the country are realizing that slot machines at racetracks don’t produce the economic benefits of casinos and don’t increase attendance at horse races. They are merely providing a public subsidy to a dying industry at a time when there are many other higher priorities in need of funding.

That $176 million could have been invested in Atlantic City, creating new jobs in a growing, thriving industry. Isn’t it time for horse racing to find ways to grow its customer base, or adjust itself to the customer base it has?

Don’t ask a thriving industry to choose between two dismal options—either to subsidize a failing industry or face the threat of severe state-sponsored competition. It’s time for the horse racing industry to run its own race.

Mon, Apr 28, 2008

As we began compiling information for this issue, I felt like Governor Jon Corzine when he referred to the financing of casino projects: “This actually is something I know something about.”

I was wrong. I lived through 30 years of gaming in Atlantic City as an employee or journalist, but I didn’t know everything—far from it. Even things I thought I knew, I misinterpreted or forgot. So I was struck by a story Steve Perskie told me after our interview (go to www.casinoconnectionac.com and click on Boardwalk Podcast for the interviews conducted for this issue). Judge Perskie told me about the time a man approached to thank him for helping to craft and pass the Casino Control Act. That man said he and all his family have benefited from gaming in Atlantic City, through jobs and other by-products.

I could say the same. I moved here after the ’76 referendum looking for a better life, a chance to be a professional musician playing the lounges and showrooms. Obviously, that never happened. But it did propel me into employment at Caesars Boardwalk Regency, the Golden Nugget and, for a short time, at Showboat. Since then, I’ve spent more than 20 years covering gaming as a journalist, mostly in Atlantic City. My life has been completely changed and enriched by gaming, but I’m not the only one—not by a long shot.

Everyone reading this magazine has been affected by what happened in New Jersey more than 30 years ago. Everyone, from the room attendants to the company chairmen, would not be the same if not for Atlantic City.

Take Steve Wynn. He had the foresight to be one of the early entrants into Atlantic City. He made a boatload of money and his sale of the Golden Nugget to Bally’s in 1987 laid the groundwork for—and financed—the Mirage and everything he has accomplished since then.

Donald Trump was a successful New York developer before he came to Atlantic City in 1984, but it was the visibility he achieved here—running some of the most successful casinos, and staging legendary boxing matches—that propelled him onto the front pages.

A slew of the world’s top gaming executives—from Terry Lanni to Bill Weidner and more—began their professional careers in earnest at Caesars. And when I visit the casinos where I once worked, I see dozens of former co-workers whose lives were changed by this industry, not only by the work and camaraderie but by the salaries and potential for advancement. Those who claim the gaming industry only produces entry-level jobs need to meet some of the fine people who took those entry-level jobs and made something of their lives.

And it didn’t always take an MBA. What other industry enables you to advance from minimum wage to high-level management without much formal education? This happens frequently in the gaming industry. But having an education is always a positive. And most casinos will pay for your schooling if it means you’ll come back to them a richer, more well-rounded employee or executive. Bravo to the folks who take advantage of that benefit. I travel frequently in my role as publisher for the industry’s leading trade magazines. And in every corner of the world, I find a veteran of Atlantic City—Mark Brown in Macau; Keith Crosby in Mississippi; Don Marrandino in Las Vegas; Bob DeSalvio in Pennsylvania; Mitchell Etess in Connecticut; Jim Allen in Florida; Tony Celona in New York; Jim Rafferty in New Hampshire. The list goes on and on.

So as we celebrate 30 years of gaming and what it’s done for this community, I prefer to focus on what it’s done for some great people who first got a chance to shine by working in Atlantic City.

By Roger Gros   Tue, Mar 11, 2008

By Roger Gros   Wed, May 23, 2007

By Roger Gros   Wed, May 23, 2007

By Frank Legato   Tue, May 22, 2007

By Roger Gros   Tue, May 22, 2007

By Frank Legato   Thu, Mar 01, 2007

By NBC 40 WMGM   Tue, Feb 02, 2010

Convention Center:  Feb 3-7 is the International Power Boat Show. Feb. 20 Spirit Unlimited Cheerleading Competition. February 26th to 28th is the Atlantic City Classic Car Show & Auction.

Boardwalk Hall: February 27 Show of Shows, featuring the Philadelphia Mummers String Band Association, 12:00 noon and 5:00 p.m. in Boardwalk Halls arena. 

February 25 9th Annual Men R Cookin at Atlantic City Boys & Girls Club to benefit Boys & Girls Club

It's the Second Annual Atlantic City Restaurant Week from February 28th to March 6th.  70 restaurants with prefix menu's at prefix prices... mark your calendar NOW!

For more information go to http://www.acrestaurantweek.com/

January 30 2010 Casino Connection Magazine update with Lisa Johnson on NBC 40

By NBC 40 WMGM   Fri, Jan 29, 2010

By NBC 40 WMGM   Sat, Jan 23, 2010

By NBC 40 WMGM   Thu, Jan 21, 2010

Late last month the founder  of Beal Bank, who is also known as a high-stakes poker player, made a surprise move by joining billionaire Carl Icahn in a new bid for Trump Entertainment. Beal hopes to convert his multimillion-dollar loan into equity in the company.

“Trump jumped ship at the last minute,” Icahn attorney Edward Weisfelner said in court, “and left Mr. Beal standing at the altar.”

see entire article here:  http://casinoconnectionac.com/issue/january-2010/article/games-the-same-but-players-have-changed

By NBC 40 WMGM   Wed, Dec 02, 2009

http://casinoconnectionac.com/issue/november-2009/article/ac-outlets-the-walk-your-holiday-headquarters

By NBC 40 WMGM   Wed, Sep 30, 2009

By NBC 40 WMGM   Tue, Sep 22, 2009

FAREWELL TO A LEGEND

Atlantic City bids goodbye to a favorite adopted son, the late Arturo Gatti, September 19 at Bally’s. A professional card has been established, with fights being sandwiched around highlight presentations, speeches and tributes to the most prolific fighter in Atlantic City history.

Gatti, based first in Montreal and then in Jersey City, became the only sure thing in a town known for gambling. Twice a year, he’d fill up Boardwalk Hall against any opponent, and his loyal fan base substantially spiked the drop in nearby casinos. Gatti was responsible for nine consecutive sellouts here, including the second and third bout of his famed trilogy against Micky Ward, and a matchup with Floyd Mayweather that established a non-heavyweight record for gross sales receipts in Atlantic City.

Gatti’s appearance was the brainchild of Bally’s then-President Ken Condon.

“We should have a special day for Arturo,” Condon said while Gatti was still alive. “I’d be the first to put that together.”

The tribute is appropriate. While earning about $20 million for himself, Gatti performed some other memorable deeds. He stayed with one promoter, Main Events, for his entire 16-year career. That’s now unheard of. He waged several Fights of the Year in boxing and created high paydays for Ward, Ivan Robinson, Mayweather, the gaming industry and HBO.

Gatti died under mysterious circumstances July 11 in Brazil (authorities first believed he was murdered by his wife, then changed the determination to suicide, which the boxing community does not believe).

He is sorely missed, not only for the exciting boxing, but for his effervescent, approachable personality. Gatti could laugh at himself, display respect for his opponent and make good copy for the media. He reminded those around him why they loved boxing.

Casino Connection salutes the athlete who symbolized the boxing-gaming marriage and carried a presence we may never see again.

By NBC 40 WMGM   Tue, Sep 22, 2009

By NBC 40 WMGM   Mon, Sep 21, 2009

Here is a link to the written article "Colony's Atlantic City Headache" on casinoconnectionac.com.

By NBC 40 WMGM   Sat, Sep 12, 2009

Don Marrandino named president of Harrah's Eastern Division Tides Story