Although the casino's dining and entertainment strategies will be tweaked in the future, the immediate focus will be positioning the Atlantic Club as the gambling den of choice for people living in a 30-to-40-mile radius. To that end, a 2-for-1 comp-dollar plan has been developed with a number of businesses - restaurants and others - in Atlantic, Cape May and Burlington counties.
All seven of the hotel's eateries will set prices to be competitive with the area's noncasino dining spots. According to Frawley, entrees at the steak house and Asian and Italian outlets will run between $12 and $18, well below the tabs at many other casino restaurants.
Frawley emphasized that " 'Local' is an operating philosophy" and not a geographic one.
He insisted the new blueprint isn't a move to a "cut-rate" operating agenda. Instead, he said, the move is being made to create a marketing niche occupied by people who are on tight budgets, but still want to gamble. To that end, the Atlantic Club will be identifying itself with the slogan "A casino for the rest of us" to differentiate it from high-end operations such as the Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa and the soon-to-open Revel.
Apart from the name change, the most immediate difference longtime customers will see is on the casino floor, where 1,500 slot machines (down from 1,800) and 50 table games (down from 86) will be reconfigured to provide players a more comfortable and convenient environment. Penny machines are expected to dominate the slots inventory, while the tables will overwhelmingly boast $5 and $10 minimums. Frawley said some $3 minimum tables will also be in the mix.
The new game plan comes in the wake of recent moves that eliminated the long-struggling property's $360 million-in-arrears mortgage and added some $24 million in capital-improvement funds. Although the current agreement to keep the casino-hotel open runs only through Oct. 31, Frawley adopted a "What me, worry?" attitude when asked about the deadline, and said decisions won't be made with that as the primary consideration.
The Atlantic Club will be the casino's sixth name since it opened in 1980 as the Steve Wynn-built Golden Nugget.
