The Atlantic Club casino has announced its procedures for shutting down the property on January 13.
Last month, Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. and Tropicana Atlantic City Corp.—owners of several competing Atlantic City casinos—bought the Atlantic Club at a bankruptcy auction for $23.4 million. Caesars paid $15 million for the Atlantic Club’s property and hotel furnishings. Tropicana spent $8.4 million for the casino’s 1,641 slot machines, 48 table games and customer database.
Casino patrons must redeem any chips, comps, tokens or vouchers before midnight January 13.
According to the casino, after the 13th, the only way Atlantic Club players can receive reimbursements directly from the casino is by providing proof of claim to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey in Camden. Atlantic Club said it “provides no assurance of success in obtaining a redemption by filing a proof of claim with the bankruptcy court.”
All event invitations and promotional offers with valid dates after Jan. 12 are canceled. All vouchers through Club Local, a promotional program that allowed gamblers to spend their earnings at local non-gambling businesses, will expire after Jan. 12, the casino announced.
Though the casino’s player database has been bought by Tropicana, several Atlantic City casinos are already trying to attract Atlantic Club’s players.
Resorts Casino Hotel first announced it will match free slot play and match play for Atlantic Club members through its Star Card program in January and February and will also match loyalty card levels and provide free parking to players who present their Atlantic Club card.
Mark Giannantonio, Resorts’ president and CEO, said in a press release that his casino provides a similar gaming experience to the Atlantic Club with its focus on “casual, laid-back fun.” In recent months, The Atlantic Club had been successfully promoting itself as a casual “locals” casino, but the push came too late to save the property from bankruptcy.
The move by Resorts was quickly followed by Golden Nugget Atlantic City, The Trump Tal Mahal and Trump Plaza casino hotels and Caesars Entertainment’s four casinos. All are offering deals to Atlantic Club card holders involving matching tier play, comps and special promotions.
Tropicana—which actually has the Atlantic Club player database—is fighting back.
“With a familiar Boardwalk location and the exact same slot machines, we’ve made it easy for Atlantic Club players to take their game to Tropicana. This is the ideal property to continue the tradition of warm, friendly and personalized hospitality,” said Steve Callender, Tropicana general manager in a press release.
Tropicana is set to match all outstanding offers for Atlantic Club card members and attribute past play toward new tier level benefits, the company said in the release. Through the database, the casino also already knows Atlantic Club players likes and preferences, the company said.
“For Atlantic Club players, this means we know you and we know what you like,” said Eric Fiocco, Tropicana senior vice president of marketing. “We’re ready to start rewarding you with services and offers that are special, relevant and meaningful to you.”
Meanwhile, Atlantic City and its surrounding area is bracing for the effects of such a significant loss of jobs in the market as about 1,600 Atlantic Club workers are about to be out of work.
Maryland Live! Casino, located at the Arundel Mills Mall in Hanover, Md., plans to hold a series of job fairs in Atlantic City including one held last week before the casino officially shut. Reports say more than 50 Atlantic Club employees attended the first job fair.
The casino has more than 100 openings across all departments, and says it will eventually need even more workers than that, according to the Associated Press.
“The closing of the Atlantic Club is an unfortunate event that impacts many peoples’ lives,” said Rob Norton, president and general manager of Maryland Live! “In this case, however, we have the opportunity to offset some of the job losses, as we are currently hiring to accommodate our growth. This is an opportunity for us to target a qualified pool of candidates from our industry within the same geographic region.”
He said the casino is “seeking to fill hundreds of jobs across all departments,” including table games dealers, slot attendants, food and beverage servers, security and other job categories.
