Atlantic City Weekly

Caesars' Fred Niceta (Photo by Lori Hoffman)

Atlantic City's history as a gambling mecca goes back to the Roaring Twenties when the resort was a wide open town where rum runners brought banned booze up on the beach to stock the speakeasies that had illegal betting parlors in the backrooms.

The legal end of the gambling spectrum didn't arrival until 1976 when New Jersey voters approved casino gambling for Atlantic City. Resorts got the dice rolling in May 1978.

Now the second casino in town, Caesars Atlantic City, which began by transforming the city's Howard Johnson's Regency Motor Hotel into a casino-hotel, is celebrating its 30th anniversary. The casino-hotel opened on June 26, 1979 as the Boardwalk Regency Hotel Casino, renamed Caesars Atlantic City in 1983. Like its sister casino in Las Vegas, Caesars Palace, it was given a Roman Empire theme.

Caesars has a whole series of anniversary events on tap this week (see sidebar). One of the biggest and most popular of Atlantic City's casinos, the structure has had numerous expansions since its early years including in 2006, turning the former Ocean One Mall into The Pier Shops at Caesars, a four-level, $175 million complex, connected to Caesars with a sky-bridge over the Boardwalk. Caesars' first nightclub, dusk, will have its grand opening July 4.

A Caesars lifer who has seen it all in his 30 years on the job is VP of table games Fred Niceta. Raised in Hammonton, NJ, Niceta came to Atlantic City as part of the flood of eager young people who saw the Atlantic City casino industry as a golden ticket to a good life and career. He found just that, working his way up from a dealer to his current executive position. Caesars can boast that it has 162 employees who have been working at the casino since day one.

"I started here right out of school," says Niceta. "I worked the night shift and I moved up the ranks to the position I'm at today."

Working in table games, Niceta is a man who has to keep the whales (high rollers) happy.

"We have a tremendous staff," he says. "What we have here is the name Caesars, one of the best known gaming names, and our location in the center of the Boardwalk has made us a stop for all gamblers.

"The most importing thing is that we [expanded the scope and amenities of the casino] while going through six different ownership changes and still maintained the Caesars name. When we first opened we weren't allowed to use the Caesars name -- we had to earn it ... which we did."

Asked about the many great performers who have performed at Caesars, Niceta mentions Cher, Paul Anka, Ann-Margret (the latter two will perform together this weekend at the Circus Maximus) and Fleetwood Mac. Niceta also remembers a concert that took place right on the beach in front of Caesars on July 4, 1983. The Beach Boys, banned by Interior Secretary James Watt from a scheduled free concert in Washington D.C. for attracting "an undesirable element," brought their free concert to Atlantic City instead. "I can remember the sea of people [estimated at 300,000] on the beach," says Niceta. "It was phenomenal."

Niceta recalls what the industry was like when it was brand new and there were only a few casinos in town. "In 1979 and 1980 the amount of money that was coming across our tables was amazing. We had lines going out the doors. When 10 people left, 10 more were allowed in. There was a dress code after 6pm. You had to learn to respect the money because you were seeing so much of it."

Asked about his most memorable meeting with a celebrity Niceta says: "From all the sports figures I've met over the years and all the entertainers, I had the privilege of meeting Muhammad Ali. I do have a photo with him in my office. As a teenager growing up watching Ali, then actually getting to meet him was an honor." He also tosses around the names Larry Bird, Jay Leno, Don Rickles and Buddy Hackett. The latter was enough of a sport that, in 1984, when Caesars opened its expansion, Hackett walked around the property in a Caesars outfit. Hail Buddy!

In talking about the current recession, Niceta says, "In the 30 years I've been in the business -- the last 15 in upper management -- this is by far our toughest [financial] situation that the whole industry is facing. It something that's country-wide."

He also touches on the need to expand the amenities beyond gambling. "Gamblers want more today," he says. "Back in the '80s, all they wanted to do was gamble. Now they want the full entertainment package. They want the shopping, entertainment, something for their families while they're gambling or vise-versa.