Winter in Atlantic City

Borgata is putting its best foot forward for the holiday season, as can be seen here.

Elsewhere, the makeover of the high-limit room continues. Reports our photojournalist friend, “The ‘high limit’ room is still closed off. It’s not a huge area and I really don’t understand why it’s taking so long to remodel.” As for the photo below, “This wide corridor to the self-park garage has fresh flowers all year long, and varies with the season. Not recently, but when they are changing out the flowers, I’ve seen people trying to grab a few pots, as they still are fresh-looking.” That’ll get you on Santa’s ‘naughty’ list for sure.

Also getting into the holiday mood were Hard Rock Atlantic City …

… and the Golden Nugget …

… and Bally’s Atlantic City, which beat the Nugget to the Yuletide punch. Sadly, the menorah is relegated to a forlorn-looking area for VIP registration.

On a less happy note, our Atlantic City bureau reports, “A fight that broke out at Harrah’s Resort & Casino led to charges being filed against four men, including three who were stabbed, authorities said. The incident brought police to the valet area around 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 24. At 1:31 a.m. Thursday, officers were dispatched to Harrah’s for a report of a massive fight that broke out at The Pool. Officers found a disturbance in the valet area, where they learned that three people had been stabbed or cut as a result of the fight, police said Friday in a news release  Three victims were hospitalized. Just another night in A.C.” Thank God for police news releases, as The Press of Atlantic City apparently didn’t see fit to report the contretemps. Philadelphia TV stations and Atlantic Daily Voice were all over it, we are assured.

What was The Press covering? The severe pothole problem in Mayor Marty Small‘s town. “It mentions the Atlantic Avenue ‘road diet’ which will reduce the current four traffic lanes to two. The Feds will provide the funds to pave the street in return for having ‘bike lanes.’ The major problem is Atlantic City will have to wait approximately 18 months for the federal dollars. Eighteen months to fix pot holes? Yes, it would appear that way. Any other questions about New Jersey state control over A.C.?”

We can’t leave Atlantic City without mentioning that Bally’s Corp. is continuing to heavily market its Philadelphia customers to … Bally’s Vicksburg?!? Hop on a southbound flight if you want to cash in on Southern Bites‘ blue-plate specials ($14.99 for catfish filet on Thursdays) on the Christmas Eve “Swipe and Win” free-play promo. We can’t wait for Bally’s to unleash such marketing mojo on Chicago.