By Frank Scandale @FScandale
The chips may be down for the Atlantic City Alliance, but its leader still believes in the city synonomous with Miss America, salt water taffy and, of course, lots of slots.
Jeff Guaracino, the executive director of the marketing arm of the East Coast’s gambling mecca, has seen his share of challenges in the short time he has been at the helm.
National economic shortfalls that cities all over the United States are facing and a major shift in tourism habits have all contributed to Atlantic City’s troubles, he noted.
Reports of falling casino revenues, casino bankruptcies and pending sales have dominated the headlines in New Jersey and beyond for some time now. But what could have been done differently if he could turn back to clock in an effort to reverse the trend that has put the Alliance in its precarious spot?
“I’ve only been in AC for two years. Cities all over the country are finding economic challenges that they didn’t anticipate,’” Guaracino said. “For Atlantic City, our challenge is we need more diversification in terms of jobs. Other cities have issues too – pensions, jobs, changing economy, people changing vacation patterns. It’s universal. Of course for us, it’s also the expansion of gambling.
“Also the consumer is changing.” he said. “A gambler in his 60s and 70s is not same as a gambler in his 30s. What they are looking for in a group and communal experience is different.”
The Alliance finds itself on the wrong end of pending legistlation to disband the agency, part of an overall plan to pay down the city’s debt. While the legislation is pending, published reports say the casinos on the agency’s board have already voted to disband it, taking with it the $30 million annual budget used to market the city and its attributes.
The agency had been funded through 2016, Guaracino explained, thus relieving a $60 million obligation by the disbanding.
“We are caught in Atlantic City’s $140 million shortfall. There’s a giant shift in the gambling capacity…we are waiting to see where things stand.”
Giant shift as in Maryland and Ohio, for instance, each of which has added casinos in each of the las
t several years, putting more pressure on Atlantic City to compete. Tax revenue from those casinos helps fill state coffers. Maryland pulls from Atlantic City and Pennsylvania, for instance.
Guaracino said some money might still be in play, possibly repurposing some cash to put them more in line with tourism in other cities. After all, he says the city has other assets to offer tourists beyond casino life.
He quickly points to the variety of restaurants outside the casino walls, ticking off a melting pot of authentic ethnic cuisine – Italian, Mexican and Vietnamese, to name a few. His favorite haunt? “I don’t have favorites. Someboody would get mad then.”
Touche’.
Guaracino likes to tout the shopping at high-end outlets and the working port in the city’s historic Gardiner’s Basin as tourism hot spots beyond the gambling draw as reasons the city is still viable.
If Guaracino had a crystal ball, what would he see?
“The beach and the boardwalk were there long before we were born, and will be there long after we are dead,” he quipped. “People will always want to be near the beach. It will survive, but the question is what will its long-term future look like?”