Bally's Atlantic City offers tour of renovated gambling floor

The overhaul included fresh carpeting throughout the gaming area, new chairs at table games and mirrored accents throughout the floor.

Bally’s is one of four Atlantic City casinos owned by Caesars Entertainment. The project is one of few gambling-related investments made in the city in recent years. After the creation of the state-run Tourism District in 2011 the city saw a new focus as the state pushed the resort to diversify its offerings and promote more nongambling attractions.

Caesars officials have said they hope the moved will add energy to the casino and translate into more slot machine levers pulled. Bally’s saw an 18 percent decline in gambling revenue in 2013 compared with the previous year. That’s greater than the 6 percent decline seen across the Atlantic City casino industry. The property, however, has registered strong room occupancy compared to other resort properties.

In the first nine months of the year, Bally’s saw an 82 percent occupancy rate based on the number of available room nights. The casino tied with Showboat for the fourth highest occupancy rate among the resort’s then-12 casinos. The Atlantic Club Casino Hotel shut down in January.

The last major renovation at Bally’s was the us$ 60 million 2008 upgrade to the rooms at the property’s Dennis Tower. Casino officials have said it has been at least 10 years since any upgrades were made to the gaming floor.

The renovations are the latest in a string of changes for Bally’s. In October, Caesars announced it would sell off the casino’s Claridge Hotel Tower. Gambling had been removed slowly from the Claridge over time. The Claridge originated as a stand-alone hotel and is expected to return to that purpose under the ownership of Florida-based hotel operator TJM Properties.