Atlantic City Weekly

Share this Story:

After a soft start, showroom bookings in Atlantic City’s casinos and at Boardwalk Hall have gained momentum as the gaming industry increasingly places its bets on entertainment as a way of luring visitors away from competing casinos in neighboring states.

“It’s very simple,” offers one Atlantic City casino executive. “We’ve got [entertainment], and they don’t, at least not on the scale that we can offer.”

Although this weekend’s offerings are very light, it’s understandable since the gaming halls here are coming off one of the busiest entertainment weekends of the year. During last weekend’s combined Presidents and Valentine’s holidays, there were no fewer than 15 separate headliner shows spread over the three-day weekend. You’d be hard-pressed to find a single weekend any time of the year with more shows and events.

Leading the way is Caesars Atlantic City, which is beginning to stock its 1,500-seat Circus Maximus Theater with a potpourri of artists ranging from classic and modern rock acts to artists with Broadway pedigree. Last weekend was a perfect example of how Caesars is using entertainment to broaden its demographic reach to its guests.

Caesars aimed for one crowd with its Saturday night double-header featuring blues legends B.B. King and Buddy Guy, while Sunday night featured a show appealed to an audience rooted in the rock sounds of the 1960s and ’70 with rocker Steve Winwood, who once anchored bands like the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic and Blind Faith.

And while there’s been no official announcement, sources say Caesars — one of four Atlantic City casinos owned by global gaming giant Harrah’s Entertainment — is also mapping out an ambitious schedule of major concerts and events in the 12,500-seat Boardwalk Hall, which sits less than two blocks from Caesars.

One Boardwalk Hall event recently announced by Caesars is an April 8 tennis tournament hosted by five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams and featuring exhibition matches between Ivan Lendl and Mats Wilander, Andy Roddick and Marat Safin and a third match to be announced later.

Don Marrandino, the new president of Harrah’s Entertainment’s eastern division, is spearheading the company’s more aggressive entertainment policy, especially at Caesars and Harrah’s Resort.

Marrandino, who was raised in Brigantine and began his casino career at Bally’s Atlantic City 30 years ago, recently returned to the resort after working in Las Vegas casinos for 20 years, where he was known as “Mr. Entertainment” in the Nevada gaming capital. He believes a diverse entertainment policy is perhaps the biggest factor that separates Atlantic City from other regional gaming destinations, particularly Pennsylvania, where table games have been approved and will likely be up and running this summer.

In addition to Caesars, its sister property, Harrah’s Resort, is also showing signs it’s going to become more aggressive when it comes to booking shows.

Where the 1,300-seat Concert Venue at Harrah’s had been short on off-season acts in recent years, it now appears the casino is looking to present at least two headliners in a month, and it recently added rock musician Levon Helm (Feb. 27), the former lead singer and drummer of The Band; pop singer Michael Bolton (March 13), jazz trumpeter Chris Botti (March 20) and American Idol fifth-season runner up Katherine McPhee (April 9) to its roster of artists who will play one-night stands.

Borgata continues to mix things up between its 3,000-seat Event Center and the more intimate Music Box venues. After kicking off 2010 with artists like John Legend and Mariah Carey, Borgata’s bookings for the first and second quarters of the year include everyone from the grunge band Alice in Chains (March 12) and rapper and hip-hop mogul Jay-Z (March 13) to the reunited ’80s boy band New Kids On the Block (May 28).

Trump Taj Mahal scored an impressive booking when it announced that Grammy-winning recording artist Alicia Keys (March 20) will headline the Etess Arena next month.

And at Boardwalk Hall, American Idol winner Carrie Underwood (March 19) will play the big room, while the modern rock band Nickelback (April 3) will perform in the hall along with Shinedown and Sick Puppies.

See a list of upcoming headliners here.

Casual conversations with the stars. Watch the Emmy-winning Curtain Call with David Spatz, Saturdays at 6pm on WMGM-TV NBC40.