New Jersey must feel a touch of schadenfreude at Pennsylvania’s stagnation, given that the rise of Pennsylvania’s casinos neatly dovetails with Atlantic City’s uninterrupted six-year streak of revenue decline. Perhaps Pennsylvania should take a cue from Atlantic City’s increasingly creative methods of jumpstarting – or at least attempting to jumpstart – its sagging casino business.
Case in point: on Sept. 1, the Trump Taj Mahal will launch its ‘$200 Grand In The Sand’ promotion, in which vouchers worth a total of $200k will be put into burlap sacks and buried in the sandy beach behind the gaming joint for 20 randomly selected customers to uncover. Each player will be given a shovel and assigned to a 30-square-foot portion of the beach, then told to start digging. Whatever the value of the voucher they find – prizes range from $1k to $100k – can be exchanged for actual cash at the cashier window. If customers are either too bone-idle or inept to locate their specific voucher, Trump staff will lend a helping hand.
The Taj Mahal is also planning to open a 36k-square-foot strip club on the casino’s second floor. The space which once held three restaurants will be taken over by Scores, the New York-based ‘gentlemen’s club’ franchise. In addition to the main showcase area, the $25m project will feature seven separate offerings, including a sports bar, lounge and – that’s right, ladies – a ‘male revue.’ Scores Atlantic City managing partner Bob Gans said the project would give the Taj “a distinct competitive advantage,’ but the Division of Gaming Enforcement – which approved the strip club plan in December 2011 – says dancers can only strip down to their G-strings and nipple pasties. There will also be no lap dances. A strip club with no nudity? Makes digging in the sand sound like a good time…