SEARCH NEWS:

 

Pinnacle continues ad campaign despite delay

"'Until we open, you'll just have to play somewhere less fun,' the sign declared.

"...Helena vaguely recalled plans for a new casino and guessed the billboard offered a sneak peek of that project.

"...Actually, the billboard overlooks the Indiana Avenue site where Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. imploded the Sands Casino Hotel last fall to make room for a new $1.5 billion to $2 billion megaresort that would dominate the central part of the Boardwalk.

"Even before Pinnacle blew the Sands to smithereens, it began teasing its project with a series of billboards on the Boardwalk and on highways and bridges from Philadelphia to Atlantic City.

"...The billboards remain standing even though Pinnacle's casino has been stalled by a lack of financing created by the global credit crisis. The company originally planned to start construction this year but has pushed back the timetable to 2010.

"Pinnacle chairman Dan Lee has put 50-50 odds on whether the casino will be built. So the billboards tout the arrival of a casino that may never materialize. For the time being, the company intends to keep the promotional campaign going, insisting it is not outdated.

"...Interestingly, Pinnacle's advertising blitz replaced a series of old Sands billboards that had grown woefully outdated by the time they were finally taken down..."

copyrighted material written for and appeared exclusively in The Press of Atlantic City

< Back