The timing couldn't be worse for the ACES train. New Jersey Transit is launching its New York City - Atlantic City service on February 6, providing a long-awaited rail link between the east coast capitals of money-making and money-taking, but it looks like the money is drying up on both ends. As the AP reports, revenue at Atlantic City's eleven casinos was down dramatically in December, falling nearly 19% as compared with a year earlier and marking a bleak end to a disappointing year. Not only is everybody broke these days, but those who have a few bucks left have more options than ever to gamble them away, with new slots parlors in Pennsylvania and New York and big pushes by Connecticut casinos continuing to siphon away visitors. ]]> Victor Ozols 2009-01-11T15:19:39-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/11/15/14273/263

It seems like only yesterday that communities across the United States were clamoring for casinos, anxious for the boost in employment and tax revenue that they seemed to promise. Today, it's a different story. In the latest case of NIMBY (not in my backyard), state and city officials are pushing for a 3,000-slot-machine casino to be built at the edge of Philadelphia's small but vibrant Chinatown area, a move that has many residents hopping mad. The developers of Foxwoods Casino Philadelphia say that the project would revitalize a long-neglected area a half block south of Chinatown, helping rather than hurting local businesses. Opponents of the casino, however, fear that having a gambling den so close to home would exacerbate the problem of compulsive gambling, which has caused great damage in the Asian-American community in recent years. The Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, for example, estimated that nearly a third of its 40,000 daily customers were Asian, a far higher ratio than seen in the general population. We're not opposed to casinos on moral grounds - people are free to do dumb things with their money if they like - but we do feel like they put up a bit of a false front. Take any casino in Atlantic City, for example. Based on the advertisements, you'd expect to see James Bond wearing a tuxedo and playing baccarat. What you get instead are obese guys wearing sweatpants and oxygen tank-toting grannies on Rascal scooters feeding quarters into slot machines until their eyes glaze over. It's not a pretty picture. But things aren't looking good for Chinatown, as the City Council recently dedicated the area an entertainment district, paving the way for construction to begin. Until it's built, though, residents can always gamble away their life savings in the stock market.

[Photo: gamblingplanet.org]

Related Stories:
· Philadelphia's Chinatown Seeks to Keep Out Casino [AP/Yahoo! News]
· Philly Chinatown [semi-official site]
· Rascal Scooters [official site]
· Casino Coverage [Jaunted]]]> Victor Ozols 2008-11-15T14:27:03-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/11/5/212643/290

While the world has been wrapped up in Obamamania for the last couple of days, there's other election news worth talking about from a travel perspective.

One issue that has been showing up increasingly on ballots is gambling. See, when state lawmakers face the tough decision of whether or not to save their budgets by allowing casinos, they do what politicians do best: Decide nothing and pass the issue on to voters in the form of referendums.

So Election Day has lately become Christmas morning for the gambling industry. This year, the gambling forces found little luck at the polls, with voters rejecting proposed casinos in Maine, Ohio and even Guam. The only victory for gambling was in Maryland, where voters gave the OK to slot machines at five locations around the state.

Related Stories:
· Md. Voters Give OK to 15,000 Slots [Baltimore Sun]
· Western Maine Casino Proposal Shot Down by Voters [Forbes]
· Casino Bet Fails [Toledo Blade]
· Guam Voters Reject Casino Gambling [Pacific Magazine]
· Travel Referendums coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: kckellner] ]]> BS 2008-11-06T09:30:08-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/10/2/16652/4610

Some Las Vegas restaurants promise the world. Others skip the $200 steaks and back-lit neon waterfalls and get right down to what you really want from a Vegas establishment: Drunkenness and gorging.

The latter is the case at T&T, the newest restaurant at the constantly evolving Luxor Hotel and Casino. The first T is for tacos and the second T is for tequila, which sounds like the right recipe for fueling any Vegas weekend, if you ask us.

Of course, this is still Las Vegas, so don't picture a rustic roadside cantina. The 8,000-square-foot restaurant includes a circular bar area designed to resemble a bullfighting arena, a freestanding daiquiri bar and a design theme that incorporates "the five icons of Mexican culture": The sombrero, the bullfighter, skeletons, seductive women and....the shot glass. Of course. Still, for Vegas? Works for us.

Related Stories:
· T&T [Official Site]
· Las Vegas Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Luxor]]]> BS 2008-10-03T13:00:38-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/6/3/45111/39879

Are we the only ones who think that the name of a huge casino strip planned for southeastern Vietnam could have been better thought out?

The Ho Tram strip will be built in Ba Ria, a city 78 miles southeast of Ho Chi Minh City. No doubt the name sounds perfectly fine in Vietnamese, but we're just seeing all the rich, foreign tourists adding a "P" to the end and taking plenty of happy snaps.

The development includes two five-star hotels, a Vegas-style casino and a Greg-Norman-designed golf course. Developers are proud that the resort has "proximity to one of the finest unspoiled beaches in the world," which we can only presume is about to be spoiled after all.

Related Stories:
· $42 Billion Luxury Hotel Resort for Vietnam [Asia Travel Tips]
· Vietnam Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Bung Phe]]]> amandak 2008-06-03T09:45:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/5/5/12851/99480

Why are we not surprised that this news is out of Vegas? Caesars Palace is starting up summertime lunch-and-booze service at its Italian restaurant, Rao's. But rather than just have grilled food outside, the place is stepping it up with bocce courts and some Bocce Bellas, ostensibly hanging out to help you with your game.

The food menu is on the simple side, channeling that barbecue vibe with sausages, burgers and chicken wings. The specialty drinks sound a little sweet for our taste, but you can't really go wrong with pitchers of sangria.

The bocce bar menu is set to be a seasonal thing, starting this Thursday and running until just after Labor Day. And, yes, we have a gratuitous photo of the Bocce Bellas after the jump.]]> pbb 2008-05-05T12:30:01-05:00 36.115521 -115.17291 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/3/3/16530/93366

We're not afraid to admit that Biloxi, Mississippi has never been high on our "To Visit" list. True, it does host killer Kid Rock concerts, but that alone won't get us on a Skybus flight to the Gulf Coast.

Budget Travel magazine, though, thinks we should reconsider. Biloxi's done a lot of rebuilding since Katrina smashed the city in 2005, and big casinos are a major draw. So too is bingeing on seafood: The city was once the world capital of oysters and shrimp.

We're not too taken by the couple of museums BT suggests, but that's no big deal when there are 26 miles of beach around to enjoy. Cruising on a replica of a turn-of-the-century schooner sounds pretty cool, too.

Related Stories:
· Biloxi, Alive and Thriving [Budget Travel]
· Beaches coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: mrbill]]]> pbb 2008-03-03T16:06:13-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/