Casinos rolling snake eyes in bad economy

If there’s a saving grace for the gambling industry, it’s that it knows how to put on a show. And it’s pulling out all the stops to lure gamblers back in.

Room rates at Nevada resorts are the lowest they’ve been in years as operators try to get people in the door. One company, Terrible’s Casino Resorts in Primm, south of Las Vegas, is giving local residents rooms for free for the rest of the year — along with two free tickets to Sin City Kitties, a burlesque show, and two all-day passes to the Desperado Rollercoaster.

The hope is that guests won’t be able to resist the lure of the casino floor once they’re in the resorts, whose parent company recently missed a $5 million interest payment and is discussing a restructuring agreement with its lenders.

“We realize that it’s a difficult time for everybody,” said Michael Starr, general manager of Primm Valley Resorts.

In Atlantic City, whose casinos saw revenue decline by 8 percent last month compared with the same period last year, the Tropicana staged its own version of Pamplona’s Running of the Bulls on Saturday — participants dressed as Santa Claus ran through the casino chasing scantily clad Hooters waitresses. And in a siren call to big-stakes players, the city's Trump Marina Hotel Casino is running a $1 million blackjack challenge, in which players can advance to a tournament on Jan. 3.

Back in Las Vegas, casino operators are lobbying the Nevada Gaming Control Board to lower the legal gambling age to 18 to help boost their bottom lines.

“We ought to look beyond cutting costs, and we ought to look at how we can drive additional revenue,” said Tom Smock, senior vice president of Aristocrat Technologies Inc., which makes slot machines and other gambling equipment. “And one way is to increase the player base.”

Smock noted that 18-year-olds could do almost anything in Nevada except drink and gamble legally.

“In this state, at least, if you’re 18 there’s not too many things you can’t do. You can get married, have babies, buy cigarettes, buy guns, drive cars,” he said.

Dennis Neilander, chairman of the Gaming Control Board, said the board neither supported nor opposed the idea but would take the suggestion to the Legislature.

Still, the real issue is not who is allowed to gamble. It’s whether they have the money to do so, said Jim Duncan of Highland Hills, Ohio, who travels to Erie, Pa., three times a month to play the slots at the Presque Isle Downs racetrack.

Even though wagers may be down in the poor economy, some gamblers have powerful incentives to try and hit a jackpot, said Duncan, describing a fellow bettor he saw at one of the Presque Isle machines.

“The person had an eviction notice in his hand,” Duncan said.

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