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Conn. casinos target Atlantic City customers
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ATLANTIC CITY - Two Connecticut casinos are poking fun at Atlantic City in a series of billboards lining major highways in New Jersey and New York. But despite the irreverent theme, there is a serious underlying message here: Connecticut wants Atlantic City's customers and is willing to fight for them in the recession-ravaged gaming market.
The Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos, usually fierce rivals, have united in an advertising campaign to draw business away from the New Jersey shore, or as one of their billboards calls it, the "Jersey snore."
"We think that there are still quite a lot of people in the battleground area between Connecticut and Atlantic City who like Atlantic City but aren't really aware of the extent of the gaming options available to them in Connecticut," said Mitchell Etess, president and chief executive officer of Mohegan Sun.
Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun began targeting Atlantic City-bound customers this week with billboards on the Atlantic City Expressway, the New Jersey Turnpike and Interstate 80 in northern New Jersey and on the Long Island Expressway in New York.
"Escape the Jersey snore. Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun are waiting," one billboard blares. "Way beyond the boredwalk," another says in a dig at the Atlantic City Boardwalk.
One billboard on the Atlantic City Expressway boasts: "Two worlds beat one city," meaning that Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun combined can conquer Atlantic City.
All this bravado has not gone unnoticed by Atlantic City's gaming industry. Mark Juliano, chief executive officer of Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., operator of three casinos, said "people aren't that dumb" to fall for the Connecticut ad campaign.
"I'm assuming they have forgotten that people aren't that stupid," Juliano said. "What they are saying, I guess, is that people should ignore the most beautiful beaches in the world and instead go to the middle of nowhere in Connecticut."
Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun are American Indian-owned casinos only six miles apart in southeastern Connecticut. Etess said Atlantic City is Connecticut's primary rival because both gaming markets feature major resort-style casinos.
"Connecticut versus Atlantic City is a great comparison, so we want to attract people's attention," he said. "We wanted to create an eye-catching campaign that people would notice and would get them to start looking north."
The alliance between the normally combative Connecticut casinos illustrates the intense competition for customers in the struggling Northeast gaming market. Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun have united to make Atlantic City their common enemy.
Both markets have suffered because customers have been cutting back on their spending for gambling trips in the faltering economy. For the first five months this year, Atlantic City's gaming revenue is down 15.7 percent. Slot revenue at Foxwoods declined 14 percent in May, while Mohegan Sun was off 7 percent, according to state figures.
Connecticut's attempt to woo New Jersey's customers is similar to billboards placed in Pennsylvania this summer by the Atlantic City casinos. Atlantic City boosters hope to persuade Pennsylvania's gambling crowd to bypass the slot parlors there and instead play at the resort casinos.
"I don't think they are doing anything different than what we are doing in Pennsylvania," Juliano said of the competition from Connecticut. "We're trying to convince customers that we have so much more to offer in Atlantic City, and that it's worth the drive."
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Snapshot of Connecticut casinos:
Foxwoods Casino Resort
Located in Ledyard
Owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation
Includes 380 table games, more than 7,200 slot machines
Its three hotels have 1,400 guest rooms
Slot revenue in 2008 totaled $728 million
Mohegan Sun
Located in Uncasville
Owned by the Mohegan Tribe
Includes 1,356 guest rooms
Features the Mohegan Sun Arena, home of the Women's NBA Connecticut Sun
Slot revenue in 2008 totaled $843 million
Posted in Business on Thursday, July 9, 2009 12:00 am
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