Casino Reviews

We have been wondering if competition from online casinos will affect many of the brick-and-mortar casinos? As we tour the country and visit a variety of locations we are finding that some locations are extremely busy. While others are struggling. It really depends on the local market. Also how much competition there is from other casinos as well as competition from online casinos.

For example in Ottawa Ontario there are only two casinos. Both are packed almost every night. While there may be competition from online casinos in the Ottawa area, the market is far from being oversold. In fact the Ottawa area could do with a third casino to handle the demand. In other locations such as Tunica, Mississippi there are at least 10 casinos. They are struggling to stay open. There simply is not enough population in the Memphis area. It is close to Tunica to drive business for 10 casinos, and the online casino business is taking it’s toll.

Competition from Online Casinos – Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada is also struggling however they are changing their business model and to all appearances succeeding. They have added the conference business, the wedding business, and tourism to the traditional mix of casino gambling. Add to that professional high quality entertainment and you have a huge draw for people to come to Las Vegas to spend money for their vacation.

Other locations such as Atlantic City are struggling because of competition from online casinos, taxation from the city and state, tolls on roads. Consumers even have to parking fees just to visit the casinos. In addition neighborhood states have built other casinos in their area to keep some of the gambling revenue in their state. As a result with all of this competition places like Atlantic City or now seeing casinos closing rather than stay open and lose more money.

We feel that you get far more value from the traditional brick-and-mortar casino however there is a definite attraction for people to play online and play their favorite games. The gambling business in North America is still evolving and there is a shake out taking place that is driven in part by the economy, by online casino gambling and government need for revenue. There will be more changes coming in the future.

It is a shame really, but four New Jersey Casino Hotels Closing  this fall throwing thousands of people out of work. The Revel, the Trump Plaza, the Showboat and the Atlantic Club Casino closed this year. Revenues are down 6.2% from last year and there is no relief in site so the owners are being forced to close these properties.

It has been rumored that the Revel hotel is being purchased by a company named Brookfield out of Las Vegas. They are getting a real bargain if this deal goes though. The Revel was built at a cost of $2.4 billion several years ago. It will be picked up for a paltry $110 million dollars. Details of the deal have not been disclosed although we do know that they are negotiating with the city to lower the taxes paid on the property. As of mid 2016, it is still under negotiations.

New Jersey Casino Hotels Closing – Taxes

The city and the state want their share of taxes and have not been willing to forgo the taxes that have been collected in previous years. The City of Atlantic City is also suffering from reduced tax revenue from property taxes. Tourism taxes and is looking for ways to beef this up. This is one of the major reasons people are staying away in droves. Tolls(another form of taxes) on the highways are expensive and parking fees take another bite out of tourist visitors. Both suffer substantially when people stay away from the Atlantic City area.

New Jersey Casino Hotels Closing – Competition

The other major reason consumers are staying home, particularly those that gamble is that they now have a choice of going to local casinos in surrounding states. Practically every state is getting into the act and running their own casinos to keep this revenue in the state. This provides a very difficult competitive problem for Atlantic City especially in the fall, winter and spring. The beaches may draw people in the summer to the area. It is a cold place along the coast in the winter time.

We hope Atlantic city finds a solution to this problem. We hope that the city also gets into the act of being more competitive to save this tourism business and the jobs of thousands of people.

We recently visited the Hollywood Casino located just outside of Grantville, Pennsylvania near the town of Hershey. This is the place where Hershey makes all of their chocolates. The Casino is at the racetrack just off of Interstate 81 and about 10 miles from Hershey. There are several hotels to stay at in the area including a Hampton Inn which is very nice, clean and offering a hot breakfast in the morning. The Hollywood Casino dies not have a hotel associated with it. Hershey offers the famous chocolate factory,  outlet mall for shopping and a tourist area for going on rides etc as part of the overall experience of visiting the area. For travelers, this is a good stopping point that offers a number of things to do including hotel, restaurants, and entertainment.

Hollywood Casino – Overview

This is a large casino with approximately 2400 slot machines, table games, at least 4 restaurants, and several bars. They also have the horse races if you are interested in that sport with a beautiful dining area to sit and watch the races.  There is lots of surface parking as well as a covered garage.

Hollywood Casino – Restaurants and Bars

There is a small bar on the main level which is not very attractive as far as bars go and the prices for drinks at the bar are more expensive than if you just buy a drink from one of the servers who are roaming the floor. The buffet is ok, however we wound the food a bit bland and not well presented. Basically it was untidy. They also serve wine from a box which we declined. The restaurant and sports bar upstairs is better and offers a good selection of food. We had the rib dinner and a plate of Nachos. They were both excellent and the nachos were more than fully loaded.

 The Slot Machines

They have over 2400 slot machines and a number of table games. We did not find that the machines were paying and they did not seem to have the standard machines we look for. There is lots of selection so we are sure you find something you will enjoy. They could have more poker machines and more keno machines to suit our tastes.

We probably will return there sometime in the future if we are traveling through the area.

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The Trump Plaza, Revel, The Showboat and the Atlantic Casino are closing placing a minimum of 8000 people out of work and delivering a severe blow to the economy of Atlantic City. All Levels of government are meeting to see what they can do to deal with this problem. However, the issues are very significant. Some can be fixed while others are beyond the scope of what the casino owners and the government can do. In our opinion, there are several major issues that are at the root of this downward spiral. It all has to do with competition. While Atlantic city controls the casino market on the eastern seaboard, life was good and business did well. Unfortunately, a number of things got in the way. Meanwhile Casino Hotels Closing in Atlantic City continues.

Casino Hotels Closing – Competition

Surrounding states were tired of losing money to New Jersey and built casinos of their own. This fact alone siphoned millions of dollars from Atlantic City. Not only the casinos lost, but so did the supporting businesses. Consumers just found it easier to drive to their local casino. Especially in the winter than to drive for several hours to get to Atlantic City.

Another deterrent is the high cost of tolls along the various highways. Individually they do not amount to much. They do add up over longer distances. Tolls are a big irritant to many people including tourists who might visit Atlantic City.

Free parking is almost a given when you go to a casino, but not in Atlantic City. When they began charging for parking driven by the city and increased the tolls just to get to the city, I think that this was the beginning of the end. The city and the casinos just could not sustain the taxes and the tolls and also keep tourists coming to Atlantic City.

Unless the local and state governments give some money back, Atlantic city is going to see hard times and tourists are going to stay away in droves. That is my opinion, what’s yours?

There is a great deal of competition in the casino industry and now there seems to be a bit of a shakeout starting with a number of traditional casinos closing. It used to be that there were really just four main places to go to for gambling. These were in order of size – Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Tunica, Biloxi and perhaps Laughlin. They worked with local governments and they prospered.  Unfortunately a number of events have taken place that are dealing some of these locations a financial blow that is tough to come back from. Some have even closed, gone bankrupt and reopened under new owners.

Traditional Casinos Closing – Atlantic City

The first big names to fall by the way side are several of the casinos in Atlantic City. Atlantic city has been for many years the go to place for gambling in addition to the beaches. There were approximately  twelve casinos along the boardwalk and in the marina area. There was at least 50 million people within one days driving distance from New York, Phli, Washington etc. The casinos would bus people in, offering a meal, some tokens and hope that they would spend the day gambling.

Four casinos are closing in September in 2014. Revel, Showboat, Atlantic club and Trump Casino will close putting at least 8000 people out of work. Revel was a brand new hotel that just did not make it and was not popular with local gamblers. With growing poverty in the area, Atlantic city needs to take steps to figure out how to reinvigorate the industry.

Unfortunately, there have been casinos popping up in surrounding states. Each state tired of losing revenue to New Jersey decided to have casinos of their own and this has siphoned off much of the tourism traffic to the Atlantic city.  A storm dealt a recent blow to the area taking the focus away from gambling and taking money as well. In addition, the writer found that the extensive tolls that travelers needed to pay just to get there was adding up. Combine tolls with closer easier to get to casinos and many people are staying in their home states.