BILL ORDINE Rolling the dice on casino concept

One of the most popular casino customer services has been the long-standing practice of offering complimentary beverages to folks who are gambling at table games or slot machines.
Most American gaming halls send cocktail servers, often wearing uniforms of the scantiest design, scurrying across the gaming floor to take orders for drinks, alcoholic and nonalcoholic. The only cost, at the customer's discretion, is a tip.
One would think that's a deal that couldn't get any better.
The Rio All-Suite Resort and Casino in Las Vegas thinks differently.
Recently, the casino on Flamingo Avenue just off the Strip overhauled its beverage service staff and now the women -- and men -- who hustle among the gaming tables and slots ferrying coffee, soft drinks and harder stuff also sing and dance. The so-called BevErtainers debuted last month, and the Rio hopes the gimmick will help distinguish it from the casino pack in the fiercely competitive Vegas market.
"Everyone has the same slot machines," said the fellow who came up with the idea, Tom Jenkin, the senior vice president and general manager for Harrah's Southern Nevada. The Rio is owned by casino giant Harrah's Entertainment Inc.
"Our product is really entertainment, fantasy," Jenkin said.
Jenkin consulted with Dick Foster, the producer of another Rio theatrical freebie, the Masquerade Parade in the Sky -- a Mardi Gras-style production that has been wending its way through the casino on elevated floats for several years.
Entertainment
The newest addition to the Rio's casino environment is the staff of 94 so-called BevErtainers -- recruited from a casting call that attracted 400 applicants -- 18 of them men.
Ten ministages have been built throughout the casino, each individually lighted and with a sound system that can be heard within a radius of 40 feet. Every 15 minutes, one of the beverage servers trades a drink tray for a spot in the lights and belts out a tune or performs a dance routine. Music moods run the gamut from Reba McEntire to Lenny Kravitz. Each number lasts about a minute and a half.
For the Rio, the concept is a bit risky. For one thing, the contribution that free entertainment makes to the bottom line is hard to measure. Plus, it comes with its own price tag, about an additional $1 million a year, Jenkin said.
On top of that, some might contend that the BevErtainers potentially distract gamblers from gambling.
However, Jenkin knows that in the casino business, the best moves aren't always easy to predict on a balance sheet. For instance, who could have imagined what an immense draw, and trademark, the Bellagio's musical fountains, a free show outside that opulent casino, would wind up being for what is now one of the most successful resorts in the world?
"You've got to believe," Jenkin said. "How do you measure the value of customer service? You've got to believe that if you treat people right, they'll reward you with their business."
Atlantic City
In Atlantic City, casinos are hoping that a breakthrough in how alcoholic beverages are permitted to be served will also produce more energy and draw more visitors.
The city has lifted a prohibition on the sale of alcoholic beverages to the public on the beach, and three Boardwalk resorts have full-fledged beach bars operating this summer.
The Atlantic City Hilton, Caesars and the Trump Plaza all now have watering holes on the sand, some with food service, and each with entertainment.
The Trump Plaza has the largest one, with 350 seats, nearly 70 of them at the bar and the rest at tables or in a handful of gazebos.
Successfully incorporating the beach and ocean into the casino-resort experience has always seemed to elude Atlantic City's gambling operators.
"Everyone who has been at the bar has said that this is exactly what they have been waiting for," said Steve Calabro, the Plaza's senior vice president of marketing.
The Plaza's beach bar opens daily at noon and closes at 1 a.m. on weekends and slightly earlier during the week. It will operate through Labor Day. There's live music, ranging from island to pop rock, six days a week, a DJ on Mondays and a dance floor. Light foods, such as sushi and wraps, are served.
The Atlantic City Hilton and Caesars, both owned by Park Place Entertainment, have beach bars that are open noon to 9:30 p.m. daily.
The one at the Hilton, which seats 150 and will operate through mid-September, serves a continental breakfast from 8 to 11 a.m., but no alcohol is served in the morning. Live island music is scheduled.
Caesars' beach bar, which seats slightly more than 100, will have both live and DJ music and will operate seven days a week, starting Tuesday, through early September.
In addition to the bar, Caesars has beach lounging equipment -- chairs, umbrellas and cabanas -- available for rent, as well as bicycles in the morning.
The Hilton's beach rentals include some of the same summer fun stuff, plus water-sports equipment such as kayaks and boogie boards.
XContact Bill Ordine at wordineaol.com.