Hard Rock Eyeing Atlantic City Again, CEO Says Airfare Could Be Key
By David Madden
ATLANTIC CITY (CBS) -- The Hard Rock franchise is looking at Atlantic City, again, as a potential hotel casino site. But the chain's CEO told state casino officials it'll take more than popular gaming brands like theirs to turn the city's declining economy around.
Testifying before the Casino Control Commission this week, Hard Rock CEO James Allen said city and state efforts to help are good, but more needs to be done. Infrastructure needs to be improved, and you can't just depend on people driving to Atlantic City anymore. There's too much competition along the way.
"Air traffic, we think, is a crucial and a very, very significant recipe for the future... to be marketing to people that are not just within a two hour drive but somebody that's within a two, three hour flight."
Take Houston, for example, two hours by air from Vegas, where a weekend flight could cost about $500 round trip.
A two and a half hour flight to Atlantic City for a weekend could cost $1,300 round trip. That, Allen says, has to change.