Monday, Jan. 12, 2004 | 9 a.m.
ATLANTIC CITY -- The slot machines at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa don't take coins. Not only that, they have footrests built in, for comfort's sake.
The parking garage has speed ramps that serve each floor, an improvement over the dizzying mazes encountered by drivers at other casinos.
In the hotel rooms, shower stalls are built for two people. No Gideon bibles are in the nightstands; the casino's owners felt that placing them there would promote Christianity over other religions.
Subtle though they are, the differences are paying off: Six months after opening, it has hit the jackpot with Atlantic City regulars, cut deeply into its competitors' businesses and added some cachet to a gambling mecca never considered especially hip.
"It just looks better than all the other places," said slot player Richard Reese, 57, of Yonkers, N.Y., taking a break from the machines. "It's got ambiance, the restaurants are great, it's user-friendly and the people are friendlier."
The $1 billion casino, operated by Boyd Gaming Corp. of Las Vegas, has distinguished itself in a crowded, hotly competitive market by offering new amenities and appealing to younger gamblers.
Six months is only six months, though, and Borgata CEO Robert Boughner says the casino can't rest on its early reviews, rave though they are.
"If achieving your financial targets is a success, then we are a success. If achieving a high level of customer intent to return is a success, then we are a success. If finishing the third quarter as the second-highest grossing casino in Atlantic City is a success, then we are a success.
"But I've said it before: I show up scared every day, because if you're not scared, you get comfortable and if you get comfortable, you get complacent and if you become complacent, you make mistakes," he said.
The 2,010-room casino was the first all-new casino to open in Atlantic City since Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, 13 years earlier.
Even before its opening, the Borgata affected the market, prompting multi-million dollar expansions and new product offerings by other casinos fearful of losing customers.
The Borgata, on 40 acres in the marina district, has a footprint four times as large as its Boardwalk competitors, many of which evolved from hotels dating to the pre-casino era.
Borgata won $47 million from gamblers in its first month, much of it from people who were passing up the Taj Mahal. In that month, revenue dropped at seven of the other 11 casinos.
Two months later, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts -- which runs three casino hotels here -- laid off more than 300 employees, citing a soft economy and the new competition from Borgata, among other things.
"They've taken table business from a lot of properties, cannibalizing the market," Wall Street casino analyst Eric Hausler said. "When you open a property that big, in a market like Atlantic City, that's been around a long time with a stable customer base, you're going to shock the market," said Hausler, gaming and lodging analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group.
While other casinos lost patrons, Borgata's biggest challenges early on dealt with accommodating them. The volume of incoming cars choked its valet parking and hotel check-in desk through much of the summer, and the casino's telephone center was overwhelmed with inquiries, prompting long delays.
The casino and its retail piazza, meanwhile, struggled to cope with the volume of foot traffic and even families with young children.
Three days after opening, Borgata officials -- frustrated by all the strollers -- imposed a policy banning children under 18 from setting foot on the property if they weren't with registered hotel guests.
Borgata led the city in total revenue from hotel rooms during 2003's third quarter, despite having the highest average room rate, at $136 per night.
Borgata executives made other calculated gambles that appear to have paid off. Among them: bucking the Atlantic City trend of removing table games to make room for slot machines.
The thinking, according to Boughner, was that there was no shortage of demand for the Tuesday afternoon slot player. But younger gamblers tend to prefer blackjack and other table games, so Borgata designed its casino to accommodate 175 tables.
The ploy worked. In its first six months, Borgata's $79.6 million table-game take was tops in town, capturing 16 percent of the market.
"The bet we made, based on extensive research, was that there was significant untapped potential in the 25-to-39 and 40-to-54 year-old markets. This market just wasn't talking to them," Boughner said.
Also appealing to younger gamblers is the presence of big-name restaurants such as the Homestead Steakhouse, in-room Internet access and a high-energy nightclub called Mixx whose offerings and occasional A-list visitors -- Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, Denzel Washington -- have made it a hot attraction.
The casino's opening, combined with other recent improvements in the city, prompted a wave of publicity about both Borgata and Atlantic City.
Suddenly, the city known for cheap buffets and bus-riding low-rollers became the place to be on summer weekends, with the new casino in town leading the way.
"The fact that they brought in name restaurants and name chefs has done a lot for the cash business in this town," said Jeffrey Vasser, executive director of the Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority.
"People are flocking to these restaurants, and it's done a lot to give the impression of Atlantic City as a dining experience. We were thought of as a bus market, but Borgata has attracted people who'd either not been here in years or never been here."
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