Need a new Atlantic City casino after Taj closing

This poll is for the best value in terms of ease of tier point accumulation, best promotions, and best comps, not just the best casino in terms of aesthetics or customer service. A beautiful casino where I can't get a weekend room, reach higher tier levels, or earn comps is not what I'm looking for.

I have been a Chairman in Trump One for several years. I have also maintained a "secondary" casino at Caesars, base level only, for full-pay video poker, additional free room options, and the 2-free buffet offers I was getting from them. Harder to earn tier points there, and much harder to earn comps. The announcement is out that Taj is closing in October. I'm not sure where to move my business. I looked at the reward programs around town, and was even more confused.

The first tier level at Tropicana to have decent perks requires 20,000 points. Is this because points are twice as easy to earn, or because the play required to get that level is far greater? The tier credit system at Resorts is confusing also. It takes a long time to earn 1 point. If I get up and leave a machine before the 1 point is reached will I lose my progress? How does it compare with the other systems in ease of earning?

Do any of the other casinos offer 3X tier point multiplier days? This helped us keep Chairman. We are not rich, and need to be resourceful to climb the ladder. We enjoy other promotions such as comp multipliers and free gifts as well.

I have a preference for the Boardwalk because we enjoy the beach and Steel Pier as well as casino gaming. Rooms are somewhat of a factor as well. We are used to getting Chairman Tower rooms 7 days a week. We are hoping to not end up with a significant downgrade in room quality. Which places do we need to rule out for this factor?

Casino gaming is a big investment for us, and we want to make a wise choice. I appreciate your suggestions and the reasons behind them, as well as any help making sense of these tier systems and your "pros and cons" of the different casinos. Thanks!

No CET?

In the new thread list, I only saw, "Need a new Atlantic City." I thought, I couldn't agree more! Fire up the bulldozers! The place is half shut down anyway.

I'm curious. Is the place still the bombed-out wasteland it used to be, where if you went two blocks inland from the casinos, you were in a neighborhood that was a combination of Beirut, the worst parts of Detroit, and Bartertown? Where you needed body armor and heavy weaponry just to survive? I always wondered how people tolerated the place; then I realized that it was pretty much the only alternative that East Coasters had to Vegas. Of course, now, there are indeed many other alternatives.

I stayed at a motel near AC for a couple of nights and was amazed at the casual rudeness of everyone I encountered. The motel desk clerk, when I gave him my credit card, ran the card, wrote down the number so he could sell it to his friends, threw the room key at me, and told me "now f*** off." The waitress at the Denny's down the street said, "You want some breakfast, ass****?" And the billboard on the highway said, "Welcome to Atlantic City. Now dump your money and go home." When I asked the change person to break a hundred, he grabbed his crotch and said, "I got your change right here, pal." And a nun walking by, smoking a cigar, gave me the finger.

I suppose that the remaining casinos that are alive in AC are Darwinian survivors, in that the existing demand can only keep that many casinos alive, and only the most profitable ones at that. I can't help but feel, though, that eventually there will be no casinos in AC. The casinos reneged on their promises to revitalize the city and clean up all those horrible neighborhoods adjacent to the boardwalk. They promised to funnel money toward civic improvements. They've never done those things. (And the sweetheart deals they negotiated with the city mean that they pay little or no property tax.)

I really hope it's not anywhere near as repulsive there as when I visited in 2003. I won $1700, and I STILL never wanted to go back.

Any idea what the attraction is on the Steel Pier? Was the Diving Horse when I honeymooned in 1969. Was Ripley's Believe It Or Not when Gambling was legalized. Imagine it sucks nowadays.

Ripley's is still there. It's overpriced but kinda cool. It's worth doing once IMO if you think you are into that sort of thing.

I have known a few that liked Taj and Golden Nugget, so probably the likeliest option if there are any. You're probably going to have to spend more for less, or you would already know where to go. Weekend rooms are probably going to be a lot harder to get anywhere.

Stay away from birgata unless you like mlife -as of jan1 all their cards are going away and they are converting to m life program

Everyone keeps saying this but no one can give anymore then that. I loved to here the reason for the hate for mlife

I seem to be in the minority here, but my vote is for Resorts. I find the employees helpful, food choices plentiful, comps easier to come by than at the CET properties...and a plus for me is that you can use Mohegan Sun Momentum $$ there at 1:1. The rooms are clean and the offers are fair. If you play, they may comp your resort fees as well. To me, Resorts has a friendly feel that's missing from the larger casinos. We are heading down next week for my birthday (and the airshow) and I can't wait. I know it's not Vegas, but for a 3-1/2 hour drive I can have a decent beach, great food, solid happy hours, a stroll on the boardwalk and multiple places to gamble. Thanks for reading my little rant! :)

I have been Chairman at Plaza and Taj since 2009, prior to that when the marina was still the marina I had a white card, and am now in a similar situation. I also play at the Golden Nugget and if they have the rooms they will comp you, however they are often sold out and I know people with white cards there that have been denied a weekend room. I have never set foot in any Caesars property except the Showboat so I will try Caesars probably within the next two weeks. The Golden Nugget has 2x times tier points on Sundays and I believe Thursdays in August.

Quote: onenickelmiracle

I have known a few that liked Taj and Golden Nugget, so probably the likeliest option if there are any. You're probably going to have to spend more for less, or you would already know where to go. Weekend rooms are probably going to be a lot harder to get anywhere.

I like the Nugget too and they are pretty good with comps but they are often short on rooms on the weekends, even if you play a lot. There were plenty of things that I did not like about the Taj, but for some reason I always felt comfortable there. Maybe it was remembering my younger days in the 90's. You get an attachment to a place and as long as you are enjoying yourself you can justify the losses in some way. That's what comps are for. Its so you can place some sort of value on the money you flushed down the toilet.

That said if your primary interest is comp rooms and you want to be at the beach you are left with little choice but CET or Resorts, IMO. In my experience the Trop can be hard to deal with. I got stiffed by them twice. The last time was on a Friday night about 4 years ago and haven't been back there since. I will play at both CET and Resorts over the next two months and settle in to one or the other, maintaining the Nugget as my secondary. Whatever the case I totally agree with the comment that you will pay more for less as that has been the trend all over AC. The Trump cashback and comp percentages were very good however the Taj cut both back this year too.

Find a place that you feel the most comfortable in and that you enjoy the most and whatever the comps are they are. I wouldn't try to find the best comps because it always changes anyway. Its a supply-demand equation based on (A)how many rooms the casino can sell vs. (B)how much projected gambling revenue they can get from comping rooms to their club members. Obviously A is very high in the summertime and around holidays and B is going higher as the number of casinos decreases.