Atlantic City Weekly

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Borgata Buzzes the Emmys

By David J. Spatz

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It was, by all accounts, a fairly typical Borgata party: Tony- and Emmy Award-winning actress Mary-Louise Parker, most recently of the Showtime series Weeds, was the host.

And the paparazzi was having a field day filling up image storage cards with candid and posed pictures of people like Parker's Weeds co-star Kevin Nealon, Audra McDonald (ABC's Private Practice), Peter Jacobson and Omar Epps (House), Kristin Cavallari (Laguna Beach), Julie Bowen (Weeds and Boston Legal) and even Tom Arnold (hey, how did he get in there).

But the reason you didn't hear about this party until now is because it didn't happen at one of Borgata's usual party spots, like the mur.mur or mixx nightclubs or the casino's big Event Center.

This soiree was held at the sexy and trendy Les Deux nightclub in Los Angeles the night before the Emmy Awards. And, truth be told, it really wasn't Borgata's party.

It was Los Angeles Confidential magazine's annual pre-Emmy party, and Borgata's new boutique hotel, The Water Club, was one of several presenting sponsors.

Attaching Borgata's name to a high-profile party was the result of the casino's partnership with Niche Media, which produces some of the nation's top regional and city-specific magazines.

"[It was] a great opportunity for our continued branding efforts for both Borgata and The Water Club," says Borgata president and chief operating officer Larry Mullin.

Because of its proximity to Los Angeles, the young and upwardly mobile Hollywood types who came to the party still tend to favor Las Vegas as their hangout city of choice. But Borgata's decision to spend its promotional dollars on an event in Las Vegas' backyard demonstrates the casino company's commitment to Atlantic City in general and its own property in particular.

"If we don't believe in our properties and Atlantic City, how can we expect anyone else to?" Mullin asks rhetorically.

More than 300 people attended the private, red-carpet affair and the guest list read like a who's who of up-and-coming actors and media personalities: actress and model Tila Tequila, Douglas Smith (Big Love), Amanda Righetti (The O.C.), Tristan Wilds (90210), Tamera Mowry (Roommates), Dana Ramirez (Heroes) and actor Isaiah Washington.

Idol Gossip: Meanwhile, Borgata and The Water Club got a huge media hit last week that far surpassed the buzz from the pre-Emmy party -- and it didn't cost the casino a dime. Did you see that story recently about the so-called "sex kits" offered for sale in each room and suite in The Water Club? Jay Leno did, and he mentioned it during his monologue one night last week. The "passion kits" kits contain condoms, lubricants, scratch-off games for lovers, cost $18 and, so far, more than 1,500 have been sold since the hotel opened in June, making it one of the property's top revenue producers (after the price of the rooms, of course). ... As if New Kids On The Block in one showroom and Alanis Morissette in another wasn't enough, America's favorite heir-head surfaced at Borgata last Saturday. Paris Hilton accompanied her boyfriend du jour, DJ Benji Madden, to Borgata's mur.mur nightclub, where Madden and his brother, DJ Joel Madden (the baby daddy of Nicole Richie's infant daughter) mixed the music in the after-hours hot spot. It wasn't Hilton's first visit to the casino. Several years ago, when she and former BFF Richie filmed an installment of their reality series The Simple Life in Atlantic City, the two women slipped away from their host family's house and checked into a suite at Borgata. ... The competitive fires still burn for Tom Jones, the music world's sexiest singing grandfather. The 68-year-old Welshman will headline at Trump Marina Nov. 28-29, and the gig will come just days after 24 Hours, his first album of original material in 15 years, is released. Jones borrows a page from fellow British singer Amy Winehouse's retro approach to pop music. The album comes 43 years after Sir Tom had his first hit single, "It's Not Unusual."

David spatz

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