Issue 52
September 4 - 10, 2001
Volume 1
page 2
 

Tropicana Atlantic City
Hosts Chicken Challenge

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ - The Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City will give anyone who joins its frequent-gambler program $10,000 cash if he or she is smart enough to beat one of 15 live chickens in a game of tic-tac-toe.

"It doesn't happen too often, but it does happen," says Dennis Gomes, president of resort operations at Aztar Corp. and mastermind behind the promotion at the Tropicana. The trained chickens come from Bunky Boger's family farm in Tennessee. "They're like people," says Boger of the chickens. "They don't need commands. They know what they're doing."

The chicken makes the first move, pecking an X or O on a video display inside the booth while the gambler presses buttons on a separate panel outside the booth. Gomes says the chicken promotion is more about giving patrons smiles than money: "Our belief is, we want to compete in the basis of fun, product and excitement, and this is another way of doing it."

Each fall, Dennis Conrad, president of Raving Consulting Co., releases his list of the best and worst casino promotions at the World Gaming Congress and Expo in Las Vegas. Conrad says that the Tropicana's "Chicken Challenge" is going to be in his "basket of things out there," but he didn't say which basket.

Georgia Senate Approves Video Poker Ban - ATLANTA, GA - In a unanimous 53-0 vote on August 29, the Georgia Senate approved a bill that would ban gaming machines that emulate poker, keno, and other traditional gambling games - but other games of chance and skill would remain legal.

The Georgia bill now heads to the House of Representatives, where some leaders have said they'd rather regulate than ban the gaming machines. However, Augusta Circuit District Attorney Danny Craig, a critic of the games, says, "We feel confident that when they fully understand ... the horrible effect of organized gambling in Georgia that they will also pass this bill."

About 20,000 gaming machines moved into Georgia after South Carolina banned them last year. A report by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation estimates that video poker is a $1 billion industry in the state.

Small Colorado Casinos Sold - WYOMISSING, PA - Penn National Gaming Inc. is expanding into the Colorado gaming market with an agreement to purchase the Bullwhackers Casino operations from Hilton Group subsidiary Colorado Gaming and Entertainment Co. for $6.5 million in cash.

Bullwhackers assets consist of Bullwhackers Casino, the Bullpen Sports Casino, the Silver Hawk Saloon and Casino and an administration and 475-car parking area. They are located in the Black Hawk community 35 miles west of Denver and accessible from many ski resorts, which accounts for more than 60 percent of Colorado's gaming activity. Subject to approval by the Colorado Gaming Commission and other regulators, the transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2002, the company said.

Penn National Gaming owns two racetracks and eleven off-track wagering facilities in Pennsylvania, a racetrack and gaming facility in West Virginia, two Mississippi casinos, and a riverboat gambling facility in Louisiana, and operates the Casino Rama gaming facility 90 miles north of Toronto, Ontario, under a management contract.

Cats


Cats - the show that revolutionized musical theatre is coming to the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts at Aladdin Resort Casino for eight performances,
October 9-14.

Based on T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, and with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, CATS won seven 1983 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Lighting and Best Costumes.

SHOWTIME: 8 pm Tues-Fri; 2 & 8 pm Sat;
2 & 7:30 pm Sun

TICKETS: $35.00, $55.00, $75.00 plus tax

For more information please call the Aladdin box office at 800-634-3424.
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