The casino has had a bumpy ride in last decade, but is currently on the rise again
In the world of gaming, ups and downs are part of the enticement. One moment you are down to your last dollar, the next minute you hit it big.
That equation can apply to a casino property as well. Tropicana Casino and Resort, celebrating its 30th anniversary in Atlantic City this month, has demonstrated that the roll of the dice can be both favorable and unfavorable over the course of decades. In fact, the high and lows at the Trop have been more extreme than most.
For many years, the Tropicana was one of the most popular casinos in the region leading to the addition of The Quarter, a shopping and dining complex in 2003.
Four years after that milestone, the casino’s gaming license was not renewed due to mismanagement by then owners Columbia-Sussex who came to town in January 2007 and proceeded to eliminate 1,000 jobs. What followed was a series of protests by unhappy employees, and complaints from Trop patrons.
From that low point, the Tropicana has been on the upswing once again. An ownership group led by billionaire Carl Icahn purchased the property in 2009 providing stability. This past May 31, Hammonton native and veteran Atlantic City casino executive Tony Rodio was named president and CEO of the Tropicana.
Versatile entertainer Stephen Sorrentino has been doing impressions since the age of five, is a multi-instrumentalist, pursued a career as a rock singer and has toured and performed for Legends in Concert with his Elton John tribute. All of the skills he honed in those stops along the way come together in his engaging musical comedy variety show Stephen Sorrentino: Voices in the Head.
“I think when this club is done, people are going to walk in and there’s going to be a wow factor,” Rodio says. “The club is going to be on a much higher level than it was down at Resorts.”
During the past few years, critics of the Atlantic City casino scene have often sited a lack of family-style activities as one of the knocks against the town. That particular complaint melts away like freshly fallen snow when the holiday season rolls around every year.
Information on promotions and other special offers and room rates at the Tropicana.
Tropicana CEO Tony Rodio is a veteran of press events, but even he admitted he was a little nervous when he was sharing the dais with a live penguin Friday afternoon at The Quarter’s Fiesta Plaza. The special penguin press conference was to introduce the new IMAX 3D film Happy Feet Two and to tell moviegoers that they could say hi to a real life penguin this Saturday and Sunday forty minutes before each show of the movie.
'I think what you’ll see [Tropicana] do as we move forward is make a series of small announcements about things we’re doing to improve the property. Hopefully, maybe in about six months, we’ll have our master plan done and be able to make a big announcement about the future of the Tropicana.'
Revel Casino stays ahead of the curve when it comes to keeping those who want to remain “in the know” informed of its progress in Atlantic City.
Further, as Atlantic City Weekly has learned earlier this week that two key associates at the CRDA who were spearheading an Arts District campaign for Mississippi Avenue in the Ducktown neighborhood of the resort, are both no longer with the CRDA,
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