Borgata

ATLANTIC CITY - Maybe you've noticed the new lighting on the Boardwalk. Or the dozens of "ambassadors" along it eager to answer questions about where to dine, shop, or just have fun. Most likely, you've seen the splashy "DO AC" ads on TV and billboards, or heard them on the radio. All are part of a bigger effort, along with the Atlantic City Tourism District that was created last year by Gov. Christie and the Legislature, to boost tourism and give the Queen of Resorts a makeover.

You're sitting on the edge of a swimming pool so blue, you imagine you're in the Caribbean. The vivid flowers and aquatic plantings surrounding this pool are so spectacular, they rival those found near Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Now, you close your eyes and savor a meal so satisfying you'd swear you were in Paris. All this after a pedicure so perfect, a facial so cleansing and a massage so soothing, you think maybe you've just died and gone to . . . Atlantic City?

The Borgata wants you, particularly if you live in Camden or the Lindenwold area. Atlantic City's 13th casino - facing a severe labor squeeze - is reaching out to fill thousands of jobs. Sixteen billboards in South Jersey, including one on the Walt Whitman Bridge, advertise the Borgata's need for about 4,800 workers when it opens next year. A job fair, described as "grassroots outreach" by the Borgata, is scheduled for Nov. 19 in Camden. Another one will be held early next year in Lindenwold.

MGM Resorts International has been granted another year and a half to sell its 50 percent stake in Atlantic City's Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. New Jersey's Casino Control Commission granted approval Monday with the support of the state's Division of Gaming Enforcement. The Division of Gaming Enforcement granted its approval July 22. The planned sale came about because New Jersey regulators found that MGM's business partner in a casino in the Chinese enclave of Macau is "unsuitable" because of her father's reputed connection to Asian organized crime.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Guests at one New Jersey casino won't even have to get out of bed in order to place a bet. The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City said it will become the first casino in the United States to let guests gamble over hotel room TV sets, starting Feb. 18. Its e-Casino program will let guests with player's cards set up electronic accounts and risk up to $2,500 a day. Slots and four kinds of video poker will be the...

Borgata officials released revenue results from their first month yesterday that they said already put their $1.1 billion casino hotel near the top of the Atlantic City market. Despite vigorous marketing of the property to a younger crowd, the majority of Borgata's customers have so far come from a familiar Atlantic City demographic: the over-50 crowd that lives within 100 miles, company officials said. Ellis Landau, chief financial officer of Boyd Gaming Co., said Borgata slot machines had averaged a win of $306 per slot machine per day in the first 26 days, compared with a citywide average of $262 per slot machine per day in July 2002.

Everything about the Borgata is wired, and when you walk through the place, you are, too. I checked in and stayed overnight twice this past week, and both times it hit me squarely: Not only is the Borgata beautiful, in earth tones and marble and endless inlays of wood upon wood, with a perfectionist's attention to furniture and art, flowers and lighting. It's also the first big-deal casino born into a fully digital world. No other gambling joint pulses in a plasma-screen glow like the Borgata, Atlantic City's first new casino in 13 years, which opened nine days ago. Fifty-six screens, all with the same constantly changing images, sweep along the side of Mixx, a techno-rap-and-writhe club with great professional dancers and a $20 cover.

On a recent Saturday, everything was on the house for Ron Smith, who frequents this seaside gambling resort at least twice a week. Smith enjoyed dinner, drinks and a band at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort. He had dessert and listened to cool jazz at Bally's Park Place Casino Hotel, and though he later drove home to Stratford, he had a complimentary room at the Resorts Casino Hotel - his favorite casino. "They're afraid of the Borgata," Smith said of the $1.1 billion mega-resort casino scheduled to open tomorrow.

The summer of 2013 pop-music schedule at the Jersey Shore is not quite so star-studded as last year. Atlantic City got a boost in 2012 with Beyoncé christening the then-brand-new Revel casino. Bader Field hosted Metallica's Orion music festival, which has moved on to Detroit, another town seeking revitalization via rock. Still, there will be plenty of marquee names playing down the Shore this season: Willie Nelson, Mary J. Blige, Ke$ha, Sting, Pitbull, B.B. King, Steely Dan, and, yes, Beyoncé are all coming to Atlantic City between now and Labor Day. Outside the orbit of the gambling town, there's noteworthy action, ranging from farther up the Garden State Parkway in Asbury Park, to Dover, Del., where the second Firefly Music Festival will set up shop in June on the way to the beaches of Delaware Bay. Things start to kick into gear Memorial Day weekend in Atlantic City, with Southside Johnny at the House of Blues on May 24 and Mary J. Blige at Caesars on May 25-26.

The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, which opened in a publicity blitz on July 2, filled just 80 percent of its hotel rooms during the peak months of July, August and September. But visitors to Atlantic City's first new casino in 13 years bucked a different trend by dropping their own money, not the casino's, on more than just slots and table games. Borgata pulled in $48 million from hotel rooms, restaurants, entertainment and retail. That represented 26 percent of Borgata's total revenue of $184 million.

The summer of 2013 pop-music schedule at the Jersey Shore is not quite so star-studded as last year. Atlantic City got a boost in 2012 with Beyoncé christening the then-brand-new Revel casino. Bader Field hosted Metallica's Orion music festival, which has moved on to Detroit, another town seeking revitalization via rock. Still, there will be plenty of marquee names playing down the Shore this season: Willie Nelson, Mary J. Blige, Ke$ha, Sting, Pitbull, B.B. King, Steely Dan, and, yes, Beyoncé are all coming to Atlantic City between now and Labor Day. Outside the orbit of the gambling town, there's noteworthy action, ranging from farther up the Garden State Parkway in Asbury Park, to Dover, Del., where the second Firefly Music Festival will set up shop in June on the way to the beaches of Delaware Bay. Things start to kick into gear Memorial Day weekend in Atlantic City, with Southside Johnny at the House of Blues on May 24 and Mary J. Blige at Caesars on May 25-26.

ATLANTIC CITY - Maybe you've noticed the new lighting on the Boardwalk. Or the dozens of "ambassadors" along it eager to answer questions about where to dine, shop, or just have fun. Most likely, you've seen the splashy "DO AC" ads on TV and billboards, or heard them on the radio. All are part of a bigger effort, along with the Atlantic City Tourism District that was created last year by Gov. Christie and the Legislature, to boost tourism and give the Queen of Resorts a makeover.

"I KNOW MOST of the police officers in town," said comedian Wanda Sykes , loving the simple life of Media. "Not because I've been arrested," she clarified, "but because it's a small town. " Sykes, who is performing at the Borgata on Friday and Saturday ("I'm always excited for Atlantic City," Sykes said. "The audience comes to have a good time. They're there, they're happy there and they're little bit drunk. "), splits her time between L.A. and Delaware County. Sharing Sykes' bicoastal lifestyle is her wife and their two children, who often come up in her act. Sykes said she likes her dual life of living in a sprawling urban center like L.A. and the quieter environs of Media.

By Michael Busler At a recent gaming conference, a well-respected market analyst commented on the number of casinos operating in Atlantic City and their declining revenue, which has fallen for six straight years. His view was that at least two of the casinos should close in order that the remaining 10 can be profitable. Is he right? The Atlantic City casino market has operated close to the way economists would expect. When the first casino opened in 1978, it was extremely profitable.

ATLANTIC CITY - It takes effort and money to stay No. 1. And Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, the top-grossing gambling palace here every year since its debut in 2003, has been willing to put in both. Borgata is revamping its offerings once again. This time, three upscale retail stores - Misura, Carina, and Borgata Collection - have new lighting, fixtures, and color design to be more inviting to patrons. A fourth store - Antica Murrina, which sells Italian glass jewelry - opened April 12 in the Shoppes at the Water Club, Borgata's second hotel.

The $2.4 billion Revel casino in Atlantic City - currently in Bankruptcy Court - began issuing pink slips Tuesday to 83 employees. Interim chief executive Jeffrey Hartmann, who took over for former CEO Kevin DeSanctis last month, said the decision to trim the workforce came after a careful review of business volume and staffing levels after Hurricane Sandy. The storm hit the Shore on Oct. 29 and forced Revel and the 11 other casinos in Atlantic City to close for nearly a week.

A dozen places to get your cheesesteak on, kinda: Sampan: Bao buns (Cantonese dumplings), $7. 124 S. 13th St., 215-732-3501, sampanphilly.com. Iron Hill Brewery: Egg rolls, $10.95. Multiple locations, ironhillbrewery.com. Noir: Pot pie, $12. 1909 E. Passyunk Ave., 267-319-1678, noirphiladelphia.com. Del Frisco's: Dumplings, $16. 1426-1428 Chestnut St., 215-246-0533, delfriscos.com. Sullivan's: Egg rolls, $13. 700 W. Dekalb Pike, King of Prussia, 610-878-9025, sullivanssteakhouse.com.

Kevin DeSanctis, Revel's chief executive since the struggling casino opened in April and the man largely credited with shepherding its five-year construction through the recession and frozen credit markets, is stepping down. On Wednesday, the casino's owner, Revel AC Inc., announced that Jeffrey Hartmann, a 20-year gaming- and hospitality-industry veteran, had been named interim CEO. Hartmann, a former CEO of Mohegan Sun Casino Resort in Connecticut, has worked as a consultant for Revel since early this year.

ATLANTIC CITY - Turn on the 46-inch LED flat-screen in a room at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa, and an array of options will pop up on the TV. Among the choices: Shopping . Movies. Nightclubs . And starting Monday: In-room gaming . Borgata will become the first casino in the United States to offer E-Casino - gambling via television in the privacy of its guests' hotel accommodations. "When you're just trying to relax, having a hard time sleeping, or have time to kill before dinner, it would be fine to do," mused Joanne Piccione of Danbury, Conn., who was working a $2 slot machine last week during a three-night stay at Borgata to celebrate her 66th birthday.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Guests at one New Jersey casino won't even have to get out of bed in order to place a bet. The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City said it will become the first casino in the United States to let guests gamble over hotel room TV sets, starting Feb. 18. Its e-Casino program will let guests with player's cards set up electronic accounts and risk up to $2,500 a day. Slots and four kinds of video poker will be the...