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ATLANTIC CITY — Bally’s Atlantic City once was the runner-up to Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in earnings power among the resort’s 11 gaming halls.

At its peak, Bally’s churned out more than $65 million in monthly revenue, but those pre-recession days are long gone. In the past year, it has slipped from being the second-highest grossing casino to No. 3 in a troubling trend that has wiped away millions in revenue.

Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., Bally’s owner, blames the decline largely on the slump in the convention trade, so it is planning to refurbish the casino hotel to make it more attractive to business customers.

“Bally’s is our convention facility,” said Don Marrandino, president of the four Atlantic City casinos operated by Harrah’s Entertainment. “Now we will look to rejuvenate that space.”

A glimpse at casino revenue figures shows how the convention downturn has helped other properties overtake Bally’s. In October, Borgata held its usual place as the top grosser, but Caesars Atlantic City was second and Harrah’s Resort third. Bally’s was fourth, grossing $38.3 million in October, down 6.6 percent from a year ago.

Through the first 10 months of this year, Bally’s is in third place with gross revenue of $405 million, off 17.2 percent compared with the same period in 2008. Harrah’s has grabbed the second spot at $413.5 million, and Caesars is fourth at $390.5 million. Borgata is far ahead of everyone else at $593.6 million.

Bally’s decline has not gone unnoticed by Marrandino, a former Las Vegas gaming executive who recently took charge of Harrah’s Eastern Division. He is concerned about the performance of what Harrah’s says is the biggest convention earner in town.

“The convention business has been affected more than any other segment,” Marrandino said of the soft economy.

Opened in 1979, Bally’s is one of Atlantic City’s oldest casinos. One gaming analyst noted that the property is showing its age.

“It has been upgraded in portions. But overall, it could use a facelift in order to be competitive,” said Harvey Perkins, senior vice president of Spectrum Gaming Group, a Linwood-based casino consulting firm.

Renovation plans include freshening up Bally’s convention facilities, refurbishing the 500-room Claridge hotel tower and other upgrades that Marrandino declined to make public at this time. Harrah’s did not disclose the cost of the project.

The sprawling Bally’s property is an amalgamation of buildings and themes patched together over the years. The complex incorporates the Victorian-era Dennis Hotel, the Depression-era Claridge, the modern glass-covered Bally’s tower and the cowboy-themed Wild Wild West Casino.

Bally’s refurbished the Dennis Hotel last year, spending $19 million to renovate the 330 rooms and another $4 million to spruce up the facade. Other recent improvements to Bally’s include an Asian gaming area, the Diamond Lounge and new bars and restaurants, Harrah’s spokeswoman Alyce Parker said.

Perkins cautioned that Bally’s has a lot of casino capacity — perhaps too much in an industry hurt by the weak economy and tighter spending by its customers. He suggested that Bally’s may have to close the Wild Wild West or use it only on a seasonal basis.

“If anything, the space could be shut down permanently, as they have done with much of the casino space in the Claridge,” Perkins said. “It’s really an unnecessary casino space at this time.”

Marrandino hinted at changes ahead for the Wild Wild West but declined to say what is being planned.

The Claridge, meanwhile, will have its rooms redone as part of Bally’s renovation. Claridge operated as a separate casino hotel before it was folded into Bally’s in 2002. Marrandino said the Claridge will take on a boutique atmosphere, comparable with the luxury W Hotels chain, when its rooms are refurbished.

“It will have more of a W vibe to the hotel. An older W,” he said.

Before it was transformed into a casino in the 1980s, the 24-story Claridge made its reputation during the Depression as the elegant “skyscraper by the sea.” Marrandino recalled when his grandfather played the clarinet and saxophone in the Claridge house band.

The Claridge’s stately brick exterior was marred in 2004 by a coating of moisture sealant that runs down the Pacific Avenue side of the building like a giant reddish scar. Marrandino said the renovation project will remove the sealant to make that part of the building compatible with the rest of the facade.

Contact Donald Wittkowski:

609-272-7258

DWittkowski@pressofac.com

14 comments:

• weisenthal (293) posts 10:52 pm

  Winterswar is a poster boy for the control-freak antismoking nazis. Notice how he tries to project superiority, yet is a sniveling little mouse, in control of nothing, particularly his own situation. He thinks he sets the rules for everybody else, and, hey, why not? He's better than the rest of us, right? Well, here's a news flash for you, a hole. The city of Atlantic City was brought down a minimum of 15% in attendence because of morons like you. You wanted to make everybody to bend to your selfish will, spun all the lies, did all the activism, to try to gain control of the operations of the casinos in New Jersey, through the unamerican bankrolling of the fraud charities, the Heart Assn. and the Cancer Soc., who illegally took donations meant for the sick and illegally lobbied and paid lobbiests to force the casinos to turn away 30% of their best customers, and, guess what? The customers went elsewhere, leaving you with a bankrupt state and the obscene taxes you pay, and a ghetto of a city that was in the peak of it's redevelopment, with the most corrupt government it has ever seen, bar no past time. Have a good time in your ruin, winterswar. Hey, why don't you take a trip to you and your nazi friends "new" Atlantic City? Tour the squalor, the vacant lots. Thrill to real live robberies, the fear of a genuine ghetto run by real live criminal thieves. Retch to true to life food poisioning. Was your car intact when you went to retrieve it? Then you won the only gamble in town, as the casinos are so bankrupt, they couldn't hope to ever pay out on any mechanical games. THEY NEED EVERY DIME because of idiots like you and the legacy of the criminal, unamerican antismoking nazis who came, ruined, and went about their business, which I suggest, is to now support the wreckage of what was once such a great hope of fufillment of the promise of the rebirth of the town, now dashed.

• B4real (371) posts 5:14 pm

  To think that the powers that be let Bally's demolish the architecturally famous and beautiful Marlborough-Blenheim to put up the eye-sore of a shoebox that is Bally's. At least they're doing something smart and turning the Claridge into an upscale boutique hotel.

• Nikynewark (118) posts 1:55 pm

  I am so sick and tired of reading about how the economy is to blame for AC's poor performance. At the Wild West about a week ago most of the floor was empty of slots. I was told a whole section of machines had been walled off from the public. I will say it was clean and smoke free but get real. Don't blame the economy when everyone knows how bad AC's slot play is, then pull machines that do pay or are popular. It ain't the economy! AC's slide into oblivion started L O N G before the bad economy! Where are all the BIG progressives? Megabucks, Dollars Deluxe, Quartermania etc. Quit blaming PA and New York for stealing business. Blame lousy management from the CCC to the casino operators.

• Grampy (32) posts 12:01 pm

  Last time I booked at Bally's AC they stuck us in the Claridge on the 15th floor. We had a mouse running around our room. They moved us to the Bally's tower. Will never book there again.

• Thrush (334) posts 11:36 am

  as long as Borgata and Harrahs remain downwind from the poop plant, and/or when the tide is out, it will be a MALODOROUS experience. (sorta like smokers' stench, right?) Unless it's winter, when you'll be sealed up inside (with smokers?) Without a boardwalk and beach, it's not "Atlantic City," is it??? One one side, projects. The other? yet more marshes, or dorky Brigantine. How exciting, Borgata / Harrahs! where's my jirney, BTW?

• RandomX856 (158) posts 11:04 am

  How disappointed you all must feel, after three years of raising your hopes for the demise of the A.C. casinos, to read that they are simply re-adjusting their business plans and adapting to the new market... instead of throwing in the towel and folding, as you all had hoped. Life stinks, doesn't it kiddo? LOL

• jmanfrompa (38) posts 9:22 am

  From my experiences, "Weisenthal" has in exactly right...all of it (except I know nothing about the local gov. part). Casinos stopped paying anything on slots, dealers are many times rude and show very little interest in doing their job, players below the Diamond tier level have to spend most of their visitation time waiting in huge lines be it check-in desks, buffets, everywhere. Smokers are treated like they are lepers and employees are quite grafic in expressing their displeasure whenever encountering a smoker. (This poor behavior is contrary to the training they received when they signed on for the jobs.) Smoking has been, and should be, an accepted practice when gaming. But that's another issue. As for PA slots, I live in a community that has a racino, and while I agree that they provide a pleasant experience for the most part, PA still has a way to go before they can be totally competitive with AC. This may be very soon, however, because PA has just passed the table games law & some places are initiating plans for on-site hotels to be built. Once these things occur, AC will relly have their hands full dealing with it.

• executioner1 (307) posts 9:13 am

  Borgata and Harrah's are outside of the crime zone that embraces Atlantic City. Who feels safe coming into A.C. after dark? Secondly why come to A.C.? If I live in P.A. and have $100 to gamble I have to pay $16 or more for the expressway and tolls on top of as much as $20 on the weekends for parking leaving me 64 to gamble. In P.A. parking is free and I have no tolls and can gamble the full $100. Do the math; that is why profits are up 32% in P.A. and down 6% in A.C..

• WintersWar (40) posts 6:31 am

  weisenthal, stilled obsessed with the smoking issue I see. The reek on the casino floor you referred to numerous times in your rant is from the smokers. duh! I will label YOU a smoking nazi. You smoking nazis demand everyone else breathe in your second hand smoke. I can spin that right back in your face. Well, you can still smoke away while you gamble and you're still crying and whining about it. Give it a rest, you sound ridiculous. The attempt to put a positive spin on the reason for bally's drop in revenue in this article is laughable. It's an old, awkward casino. why go to ballys when you can visit a better, more upscale caesars? Or better yet a borgata or harrahs. ballys needs a revamping, that's for sure.

• weisenthal (293) posts 2:08 am

  Bojangles got it right off, Don M.,although you speak to every issue but the obvious---The slots don't pay out, not ever, nada, zilch. There's nothing as sure as a sucker walking into Bally's and losing all their money, except maybe for the sun rising. I have been a loyal customer of Bally's (to concentrate the comp)for the last 25 years, and used to enjoy playing there--I would occasionally win, and be well comped. But, as we all know, about 4 or 5 years ago, I quickly noticed that THE SLOTS QUIT PAYING OUT. It became tiresome going down into the neo-nursing home atmosphere main room, which smelled like a gym, like b.o.(some ambiance), and lose 500$ in a matter of minutes, any denomination, even the 15$. You never win, the people know it, it ruined the "chance" aspect of gambling, and we quit coming. What's the attraction? The stupid-from-its-inception Wild West? It was an idiotic idea from the get-go, with the hokey country music and the annoying robots crooning the tunes of the loser, making the experience all the more depressing. I remember the floor splintering to pieces just days after it opened, and remaining that way for years, and it smelled like chemicals. Funny, it never smelled smokey, it was so well ventelated, but now is 99% no smoking. Brilliant, Ballys, and, thanks nazis, for ruining it for everyone. Also, now, all are insulted with the tier-courtesy system they have , that is, if you're not stupid enough to throw 1000$ away each month in that smelly pit, they treat you like dirt, making you wait for everything, constantly reminding you that "they're busy taking care of the good people, and you just wait with the rabble. Didn't like that, either, Don. M. Rooms are never ready until at least 2, you never get a room you might ask for. The people all come at one time, to one huge line, with 6 idle people waiting for the diamond-card holders and the other 95% of the "guests" herded into the cattle line, hundreds of people long. You're considered a pest at the check in-out counter. The whole place is generally a disorganized mess filled with infirm, pissed off old people and surly help. Then, the smoking nazis caused casino management to concentrate all the stupid, old, low denomination slots in one smelly place, and as any idiot can see, everybody in the building is in that section, and the rest of the facility is empty. They seem to have made certain that the most unattractive, oldest slots are in that area as well, ruining the experience of playing without smoking at the same time, a clear requirement for most smoking slot players. You have to blame the meddling antismoking nazis for the basis of the problem, but Bally's made sure that smokers will be uncomfortable and so, we nowo to PA. It was the most corrupt governmental body to have ever stolen an election, the Atlantic City council, led by the fraud Bruce Ward, the Craig Callaway appointee, who is responsible with their grandstanding appeasement of the fascist activists for their selfish political purposes, that has ruined Bally's business. We, the ex-players of Ballys, don't want to take the taliban along with us when we go there. We don't want our "Moms" to correct our behavior in the stupid casino, and so we just went elsewhere. We go to Pa. slots, are treated well, are free to do as we want without feeling like we're grammar school students, and find there---that you occasionally win as well, something that cash poor Atlantic City casinos in general cannot do, since the exodus, and the meddling of the antismoking nazis. So Don, what you find in your casino, are those who are too stupid to see reality, naziism and losing assured, fun--OVER. You can re-do that place over until, well, Pinnicle builds (like that'll ever happen)and the people still won't come back. It's the losing, the fascism. the rudeness, the stink, and the disorganization.

• railroad (6) posts 10:29 pm

  I think Harrahs needs to Torn down the Claridge and Dennis hotel and the Wild Wild West and build New Hotel Towers?

• njbourne (72) posts 9:01 pm

  wow it went ALL THE WAY from the #2 grossing casino to #3........not a very compelling lead, Mr. W

• Barry McSame (136) posts 8:15 pm

  ".....Perkins cautioned that Bally’s has a lot of casino capacity — perhaps too much in an industry hurt by the weak economy and tighter spending by its customers. He suggested that Bally’s may have to close the Wild Wild West or use it only on a seasonal basis. “If anything, the space could be shut down permanently, as they have done with much of the casino space in the Claridge,” Perkins said. “It’s really an unnecessary casino space at this time.”... ---- there's your SUPERMARKET space, Langford & Whelan!!

• MrGBojangles (2) posts 6:29 pm

  Facelift? Come on! This chain must do some market research if it thinks a facelift will solve its problems. How about lowering the minimums on craps and blackjack to attract more players? And what about its slots payouts and game selection? Walk through the Wild West casino and what do you see? Tired employees and tired machines. No life whatsoever! As a senior gambler I never play Wild Wst craps. One table, ONE table - always $10 minimum and crews that are surly on good days- downright nasty the rest of the time. Go to the OTB area. The screen is broken and has been for months. No one behind the cage to take your bets. The place screams - GRAVEYARD! Facelift? How about a change in management? Bojangles

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