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Low-Rollers Not Welcome in Posh Slot Rooms27 October 2003ATLANTIC CITY – As reported by the Press of Atlantic City: ``Stephan Khalife had had enough of the jangle and crowding of the casino floor one day at the Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort, so he retreated to the high-limit slots behind the walls of the Grand Salon. ``…The Grand Salon is a gambling oasis at the Hilton, a richly appointed enclave with its own cashier cage, bathrooms and security detail. ``The Grand Salon might as well be a gated community restricted for high-rollers. ``…Every casino now has a separate high-limit slot room - with names like Diamond Cove, Platinum Place, Crystal Room, Sala Miralto and Gold Room - that they want treated as a private club. ``New Jersey gaming law does not address the issue of private gambling areas (Nevada allows them), but regulators for years acted on the unwritten policy of making the casino floor "open and available to as many people as possible," Casino Control Commission spokesman Daniel Heneghan said. ``But with the flourish of high-limit slot rooms this decade, regulators are condoning casino tactics that keep the commoners outside looking in. ``…Nearly four years ago, the casino commission quietly gave Harrah's Atlantic City approval to create the city's first, and still only, private high-limit slot room - Diamond Cove. The commission did this without a public hearing. ``…Even without commission approval, casinos employ other tactics to keep out the low-rollers. Some post security guards or signs as a visual deterrent. Others require gamblers to walk up steps, open a door or walk through an elegant entrance…" |