Slots Slowdown Hurts Atlantic City Players - 04-08-08

April 8 - A bad economic period and competition from out of state slots parlors has been the cause for many Atlantic City casinos to declare poor revenues in the past year. As a result, the city's 11 gambling halls are reconsidering how wise it is to continue to hand out millions of dollars in free comps to players who make their way to their casinos.

It is estimated that the city's casinos spent a massive $1.63-million on comps to their loyal patrons last year alone, including free meals, accommodation and slots money. It is not strange for tour companies to bring busloads of senior citizens looking for an exciting day out (and a free lunch to boot) to their doorsteps. This is part and parcel of the city's gambling culture and for decades it was enough to complement the heavy bettors who contributed to excellent profits in these Atlantic City slots casinos.

The casinos are now considering moving slowly away from handing out these perks and focusing more on gamblers who will contribute more to their overall profits. Already, the number of comps handed out by Atlantic City slots casinos dropped by 2.4% last year, a fact that was definitely noted by the regulars. "You can definitely tell it's slowing down," said one player. "One woman we came down with used to get hundreds of dollars at a time. Now she says it's a lot less."

The problem of slowing down the comps incentives is that many of these slots fans live in very close proximity to racetrack slots parlors in their own states. As a result, competition is growing in the Atlantic City region and some casinos feel that this is exactly the right time when they should be investing more in comps than ever before.