Atlantic City is moving away from its old image of elderly gamblers brought in by buses for a day-trip, towards a more fashionable persona. The Borgata started the trend when it opened in 2003, the first new casino in Atlantic City for thirteen years, and has attracted younger players who come and stay. Demand for hotel rooms is high, with insufficient availability at weekends; so many of the casinos are adding hotel towers.

It is not only hotels and casinos that are expanding. As in Las Vegas, the Atlantic City resort is now offering much more than gambling. Retail stores, condominiums and good restaurants are part of the plan to compete with the growing gaming markets of New York and Pennsylvania. The plan seems to be working and the Atlantic City market is showing signs of growth. The Borgata is already working on a retail and casino expansion and has announced plans for a second phase that will include additional hotel rooms, recreational areas and spa, and luxury time-share accommodation.

The Tropicana Casino & Resort has just opened its $280 million expansion that has a hotel tower and retail stores. The project has a Latin theme to honour the original Tropicana nightclub in Cuba and will be known as The Quarter, and the hotel named the Havana Tower. The interior of the two-storey streetscape has been modelled on old Havana, with cobblestone streets and a reconstruction of a village square. It houses around 70 entertainment, restaurant, shopping and spa facilities, including an IMAX movie theatre, with additional restaurants and entertainment venues due to be completed and open by mid-December.

The Quarter at Tropicana is the largest non-gaming development in Atlantic City, and the trend for gaming to become part of a larger entertainment experience seems set to continue. Las Vegas made the move away from pure gambling towards wider entertainment and then into residential projects, and Atlantic City looks to be not far behind. The Havana Tower has been designed to attract new business – the profitable convention market – and the Tropicana is due to host its first corporate convention in January.

Atlantic City sees around 30 million visitors each year. With gaming, entertainment and shopping now all readily available, that number should soon be rising.

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