I may be dating myself here, but when I was a little girl, there was only one place in the country where you could gamble. I mean, I couldn’t go, but my parents could. And that was Las Vegas.

Pretty much anybody in the country had to hop on a plane if they wanted to play blackjack slots or roulette. When you took a trip to Vegas, you were always treated to some of the most amazing entertainment in the country.

The headliners like Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Barbra Streisand would make the trip worth it even if you were losing. And the casino scene has not changed in that regard.

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Canva / Townsquare Media illustration
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Casinos don’t just want you to gamble, they want you to stay. They figure the longer they can keep you captive with pretty rooms, nice views, great food and cocktails, and some good old-fashioned entertainment, the more you just might want to stay. Take one more last spin at the roulette table, one last pull at the slots or one more hand of blackjack.

That’s why the entertainment in casinos is so important. It can make or break revenue. You might find it hard to believe, but with the hundreds upon hundreds of casinos in the country, two of the top 10 casino concert venues in the entire country are right here in New Jersey.

Yes, Atlantic City does know what it’s doing when it comes to entertainment.

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According to OLBG, which pulled concert data from major ticketing sites, Hard Rock Hotel Casino in Atlantic City was number four on the list. And this is not surprising. I have been to so many good concerts there and since 2020 they’ve put on over 100 concerts featuring major names like Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Pitbull, and Alicia Keys.

The venue holds about 7,000 people, with ticket prices ranging from $75 to $250 (averaging out to around $163 per ticket). The hard rock pulls in $35 million a year in concerts alone.

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Although concert revenue is much lower at the Borgata, they are still well-represented on this list at number nine. In the last few years, they’ve hosted acts like Boyz II Men, John Legend, Jerry Seinfeld, and Sebastian Maniscalco in the kind of theater the people like to see shows in.

Small or not, their concerts still manage to generate an estimated $20 million a year in entertainment alone.

So you don’t need to hop on a plane to Vegas for an amazing entertainment experience. Just take a drive to the longest boardwalk in the state, Atlantic City.

This is why even if you’re not a gambler, a trip to Atlantic City is worth it for the entertainment alone. My husband and I like to vacation there every summer just for that reason. And if you happen to drop a couple of coins into a slot machine and hit it big, well, you’ve made your trip just that much better.

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Gallery Credit: Judi Franco

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Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco only.

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