EventsThrough Sept 2
Sixteen shows at Kennedy Plaza, no ticket, and parking under Boardwalk Hall runs about $10.
wpgtalkradio.com
Issue 01 · 36 items
Everything we read this month
Filter by category. Each card opens a longer summary and a link to the original reporting — we do not republish anyone's text, and we flag anything we could not verify.
36 items
EventsOct 2–4
A three-night run launches the band's 2026 fall tour, with the general on-sale on Aug 14.
973espn.com
EventsAug 14–29
Etess Arena runs a three-night Panic residency, then two Urban nights, Wu-Tang and Air Supply.
jambase.com
EventsSept 19–20
The free Latino Festival at Bader Field and the Downbeach Seafood Festival land the same weekend.
aclatinofest.com
EventsOct 17–18
10K and 5K on Saturday, marathon and half on Sunday. Entry runs $50 to $120.
runsignup.com
EventsAug–Sept
Howard Jones with Wang Chung and The English Beat, then Squeeze with Adam Ant supporting.
ticketmaster.com
EventsOct 9–10
Two back-to-back 8 p.m. nights at Boardwalk Hall, the weekend after the Phish run.
ticketmaster.com
HotelsOpened Feb 2
598 redesigned rooms in a coastal palette. Book the tower by name, not just “Tropicana.”
newsroom.caesars.com
HotelsAnnounced Feb 9
700+ rooms, 60 suites and eight penthouses gutted, with completion targeted for end of 2026.
njbiz.com
HotelsSummer 2026
All 1,860 rooms were redone by 2025, and Philadelphia Magazine just named it Best Casino.
prnewswire.com
HotelsOpening summer 2026
Premier Nightclub shut Aug 30 permanently. Gypsy Bar is closing in the same reset.
njbiz.com
HotelsSummer 2026
Two new room floors, a Nerf arena, 20 more arcade games and a dinosaur park.
wfpg.com
HotelsAnnounced 2026
Five 40-year-old cooling towers get replaced, and the Ocean Tower exterior is restored in three phases.
resortsac.com
HotelsCompleted April
Rooms were done last year; the atrium, casino floor and slot chairs were finished in April.
yogonet.com
RestaurantsUpdated July 28
Dock's Oyster House (1897), Knife & Fork Inn (1912) and Chef Vola's (1921). Vola's is cash only.
njmonthly.com
RestaurantsOpened July 17
2,600 sq ft with Boardwalk views, from a Mumbai-born chef trained in Michelin-starred French kitchens.
njbiz.com
RestaurantsOpened June
Federal Donuts & Chicken runs 24/7 inside Hard Rock, next to the Icon Lounge.
wrat.com
RestaurantsOpened June 19
Open-air, DJ-driven, VIP cabanas, and open to the public rather than hotel guests only.
newsroom.caesars.com
RestaurantsSecond season
Chez Frites on the lobby level, Sunny's eleven floors up with ocean views for breakfast and lunch.
theoceanac.com
RestaurantsMarch 1–31, 2026
Taste Atlantic City replaced the one-week format with 70+ restaurants and tiered pricing.
njbiz.com
RestaurantsSeasonal
Resorts' Tulum-styled open-air bar at North Carolina Avenue. Closed out of season.
resortsac.com
SpasYear-round
$99 same-day bathhouse pass for hotel guests, $120 for non-guests, capacity permitting.
theoceanac.com
SpasYear-round
Three Roman baths at different temperatures, herbal steam, cedarwood sauna, arctic ice room.
caesars.com
SpasClosed since 2023
Immersion Spa's 32nd-floor footprint became event space in Borgata's MGM Tower remodel.
re-nj.com
SpasYear-round
Any booked treatment includes pool, hot tubs, steam room, sauna and a notably large gym.
visitnj.org
SpasYear-round
31 treatment rooms, two dedicated Rhythm & Motion rooms, a salt chamber and Rock Om yoga.
casino.hardrock.com
Spas25 min from AC
Revival Spa at Renault Winery pairs a vineyard setting with a Turkish-style hammam and salt room.
renaultwinery.com
SpasLaunched May
ShoreShot IV delivers hydration and recovery drips in-room. Pricing is not published.
theoceanac.com
CasinosJune figures
$271.0M online against $257.3M won on the floors, and $60.4M in tax against roughly $18.9M.
nj.gov (DGE)
CasinosReported May 25
$104.7M gross operating profit on flat revenue. Bally's and Golden Nugget ran at a loss.
casino.org
CasinosAugust action
Organisers are targeting 90% participation in a mass August sick-out during peak season.
newjerseymonitor.com
CasinosApril, ECGC
Hard Rock's chairman says three downstate NY casinos could take a quarter of the market.
cdcgaming.com
CasinosAug 3
The buyout completes a stake first qualified at 50% in 2021, behind AC's third-largest earner.
nj.gov (CCC)
CasinosJune figures
$57.2M against $91.9M last year. Retail lounges posted a negative month.
nj.gov (DGE)
Casinos2026
A digital rewards card in the app cards you in to slots and tables by QR code.
playnj.com
CasinosFeb 20–22
$1,362,883 on Dragon Link from a $50 bet, and $1,043,287 on a Three Card Poker side bet.
1063thebear.iheart.com
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EventsThrough Sept 2
The free Boardwalk concert series is still the best deal in town
The city's free summer series runs Wednesdays and Mondays at Kennedy Plaza, right in front of Boardwalk Hall, with a 7 p.m. start and no ticket required. August closes with Ivan Neville & Dumpstaphunk (Aug 12), Booker T. Jones (Aug 19), Dead Zep with Hayley Jane (Aug 26) and a Teddy Pendergrass tribute on Sept 2, plus “Lundi Gras” Mondays including Dana Fuchs, an Allman Brothers Fillmore East celebration and Flow Tribe. Parking beneath Boardwalk Hall is roughly $10, which is most of what a night out here has to cost.
EventsOct 2–4
Phish opens its fall tour with three nights at Boardwalk Hall
Phish will play three consecutive nights at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall to open their 2026 fall tour before moving on to Richmond, Jacksonville and Huntsville. Band presale tickets run through noon ET on Aug 10, general on-sale opens Friday Aug 14 at 10 a.m. ET, and hotel-plus-ticket packages went live Aug 5. A three-night jam-band residency fills rooms across a shoulder-season weekend, so book early if you want to walk to the venue.
EventsAug 14–29
Hard Rock stacks late August: Widespread Panic, Keith Urban, Wu-Tang
Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena closes the summer with a Widespread Panic residency on Aug 14–16 (three-day passes offered alongside single nights), two Keith Urban shows on Aug 21–22, Wu-Tang Clan on Aug 28 and Air Supply on Aug 29. September continues with Sonu Nigam (Sept 11), Jon Pardi (Sept 18) and Taking Back Sunday (Sept 25). One 7,000-seat room covering country, hip-hop and nostalgia in a fortnight is why the whole city gets traffic in the last two weeks of August.
EventsSept 19–20
Sept 19 is the busiest local Saturday of early fall
The Atlantic City Latino Festival runs Saturday Sept 19 from noon to 9 p.m. at Bader Field — free, organised by the Hispanic Association of Atlantic County, with Latin music, dance, food vendors and family programming, and complimentary tickets distributed through Eventbrite. Note it now uses Bader Field rather than the Boardwalk. The Downbeach Seafood Festival runs the same weekend on Ski Beach in Ventnor City, minutes down the island, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days. Confirm the Downbeach dates before you build a trip around them; our source was a preview rather than a final listing.
EventsOct 17–18
The AC Marathon returns for its 68th year in October
The AmeriHealth Atlantic City Marathon weekend puts the 10K and the G. Larry James 5K on Saturday Oct 17, with the marathon and half marathon on Sunday Oct 18, starting and finishing in the city and running the Boardwalk and shore route. Entry is $120 for the full, $110 for the half and $50 for the shorter races. The event traces back to 1958 and bills itself as the third-oldest continuously run marathon in the United States, which is also why it reliably books out mid-October hotel inventory.
EventsAug–Sept
Borgata is programming straight at the Gen-X wallet
The Borgata Event Center runs a new-wave August: Howard Jones headlines a “Things Can Only Get Better” package with Wang Chung, The English Beat and Modern English on Aug 14, and Squeeze returns on Aug 28 with Adam Ant supporting. September shifts toward comedy and rock bookings on Sept 5 and Sept 18. Check each date on Ticketmaster before booking — we sourced these from the venue listing rather than a dated announcement.
EventsOct 9–10
The Comedy Festival extends the arena season past Labor Day
The Atlantic City Comedy Festival takes Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall for two arena-scale nights on Oct 9 and Oct 10, both at 8 p.m., the weekend directly after the Phish residency. It sits in a fall Boardwalk Hall calendar that also includes Disney On Ice: Spotlight Magic! on Nov 8. Lineup names were not published in the listings we checked — only dates and times — so treat the bill as unannounced for now.
HotelsOpened Feb 2
Tropicana's Solana Tower is the newest room block in the city
Tropicana's west wing reopened on Feb 2, 2026 as the Solana Tower with 598 redesigned rooms and suites in a coastal palette, spa-style bathrooms and far more charging outlets than the wing it replaced. It is the most visible piece of Caesars' multi-year Atlantic City reinvestment and, right now, the newest large room block in the market. The practical point: ask for Solana specifically at booking, because “Tropicana” also covers older inventory.
HotelsAnnounced Feb 9
Hard Rock puts $50M into every North Tower room
Hard Rock began a $50 million capital programme in early 2026 that rebuilds more than 700 standard rooms, 60-plus suites and eight North Tower penthouses, plus corridors, walkways and new casino-floor carpeting. President George Goldhoff tied it to more than $700M invested in the property since it opened in 2018. Two dining additions land alongside it — Sitar and Federal Donuts & Chicken. If you book here this year, ask for a completed North Tower room or expect to hear the work.
HotelsSummer 2026
Ocean is the safest bet for a no-surprises modern room
Ocean finished a $25M refresh of all 1,860 rooms in 2025, which makes it the one large property in town with no renovation risk attached to a booking. Its summer 2026 programme adds roughly $20 million more: an Americana pop-up bar for the US 250th, Mrs. Fields on the casino floor, Zhen Bang Noodle & Sushi in the fall, in-room IV wellness service and a $1.5M sound upgrade in Ovation Hall. Philadelphia Magazine named it Best Casino in its Best of Philly list, which is useful shorthand if you are picking one property sight unseen.
HotelsOpening summer 2026
Borgata closed Premier for good and is building an 18,000 sq ft replacement
Borgata permanently closed Premier Nightclub on Aug 30 and partnered with hospitality group Big Night to rebuild the space as an 18,000-square-foot immersive entertainment venue, programmed year-round rather than seasonally. Gypsy Bar is closing as part of the same reset. If Premier was the reason you were coming to Borgata for a night out, check the new venue's opening status before you book anything.
HotelsSummer 2026
Showboat is the gambling-free option, and it leans hard into families
Showboat opened two new guest-room floors in its New Orleans Tower for summer 2026, with new furnishings, fully refurbished bathrooms and upgraded in-room electronics. It also expanded the adult area at Island Waterpark with cabanas, added 20 arcade games and a Nerf-based Strike Zone Arena, plus a Jurassic Beach dinosaur park and two new food concepts. There is no casino here, which makes it the right call for families and the wrong call if you want a quiet weekend.
HotelsAnnounced 2026
Resorts starts façade restoration on its Boardwalk tower
Resorts Casino Hotel announced two capital projects: replacing five 40-year-old rooftop cooling towers, along with supporting roof and steel, with an energy-efficient system, and a three-phase exterior restoration of the Boardwalk-facing Ocean Tower. The property says operations will not be disrupted. This is infrastructure rather than rooms, so expect scaffolding and possibly obstructed Ocean Tower views instead of upgraded interiors.
HotelsCompleted April
Golden Nugget is bookable now without renovation risk
The marina-district property wrapped a round of upgrades in April 2026: a redesigned main atrium with new carpeting and lighter finishes, a Lightning Link Lounge near Bar 46, 17 new slots, a Party Pit slot area, upgraded iView displays and all-new slot chairs. Guest room renovations were completed the year prior, so both halves of the stay are now current. The investment figure was never disclosed. Worth knowing: the second-tower and condo plans circulating locally are unconfirmed owner talk, not an announced project.
RestaurantsUpdated July 28
Three rooms older than the casinos still hold the best-of lists
New Jersey Monthly's Atlantic City guide, last updated July 28, 2026, keeps all three historic rooms among its picks alongside the newer casino restaurants. Dock's Oyster House has run four generations of the Dougherty family and reopened after a major renovation in 2016; the Knife & Fork Inn began as a private club and became a dining room in 1927; Chef Vola's still operates as a cash-only basement room you reach by a side door. Order the rotating dozen at Dock's, lobster thermidor at Knife & Fork, and the bone-in veal Parmesan at Vola's — which needs a phone reservation and actual cash.
RestaurantsOpened July 17
Sitar brings upscale Indian to the Hard Rock Boardwalk
Sitar opened on July 17, 2026 near the Sound Waves venue at Hard Rock, a 2,600-square-foot room with Boardwalk views that launched with live music and dancers. The menu comes from executive chef Christopher Corda, a Mumbai native who trained in French Michelin-starred kitchens. Go for the coal-fired butter chicken, the pastooni lobster masala, or the dosa en croûte if you want the one dish that explains the kitchen.
RestaurantsOpened June
There is finally a credible 3 a.m. option on the Boardwalk
The Philadelphia chain affiliated with Michael Solomonov opened its first Jersey Shore counter inside Hard Rock in early June 2026, in the quick-service zone next to the Icon Lounge. It runs around the clock, aimed squarely at Boardwalk walkers and post-concert crowds. That makes it the only credible fried-chicken-and-donut option in the city at 3 a.m., which is a more useful fact than any review score.
RestaurantsOpened June 19
Caesars opened a public beach club on the sand
Caesars Beach Club opened Friday June 19, 2026 as an open-air oceanfront venue with DJ programming, lounge seating and private VIP cabanas. It is open to the public rather than restricted to hotel guests, which is unusual for beachfront space attached to a casino here. Hours run 10 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday. Order the Jersey dayboat scallops or the lobster roll, and the grilled margherita pizza for the table.
RestaurantsSecond season
Stephen Starr's two Ocean rooms are into their second year
The Philadelphia restaurateur opened both rooms at Ocean Casino Resort on July 18, 2025: Chez Frites on the lobby level as a dinner-only prix fixe French brasserie, and Sunny's eleven floors up, an American bistro with ocean views serving breakfast and lunch. Chez Frites made New Jersey Monthly's 2026 best-of-Atlantic-City list inside its first year. Order the prix fixe steak at Chez Frites — entrées come with unlimited fries, which is the whole point of the room.
RestaurantsMarch 1–31, 2026
Restaurant Week is now a month long, and the savings sit off-peak
Visit AC retired the traditional one-week Restaurant Week and replaced it with a month-long festival running March 1–31, 2026, covering more than 70 restaurants across Atlantic City and Atlantic County, plus standalone food events and a charity kickoff. Pricing moved to a tiered structure with separate peak and off-peak menus. The Knife & Fork Inn ran a $45 three-course menu mid-March against $60 on peak dates — the tiered calendar, not the restaurant list, is where the actual savings are. Taste AC 2027 pages are already live.
RestaurantsSeasonal
MAYA is back for its second Boardwalk summer, and only for summer
Resorts Casino Hotel's open-air bar at the Boardwalk and North Carolina Avenue debuted on June 27, 2025 with a Tulum-styled look and reopened for the 2026 season. It runs coastal cocktails plus small plates such as ancho-braised beef tacos, shifting from an afternoon lounge to an evening scene as the light goes. It is strictly seasonal and closes outside summer, so do not plan a winter visit around it.
SpasYear-round
Exhale has the only clearly published day pass in the market
The 40,000-square-foot lobby-level spa at Ocean sells a same-day bathhouse pass at $99 for hotel guests and $120 for non-guests, subject to capacity — which makes it the only property in town with a rate you can check before you arrive. The bathhouse is the reason to go: jetted pool, jacuzzi, Himalayan salt grotto, saunas, steam rooms and zen lounges, strictly 18+ with photo ID. Booking any treatment includes an hour of bathhouse access, so if you wanted a massage anyway, that is cheaper than the pass. Open Mon–Fri 8 a.m.–9 p.m., Sat–Sun 8 a.m.–8 p.m.
SpasYear-round
Qua at Caesars is the city's real thermal circuit
Qua Baths & Spa is built around a Roman baths circuit of three pools at different temperatures and sizes, paired with a herbal steam room, a cedarwood sauna and an arctic ice room for the cold phase — the closest thing Atlantic City has to a proper thermal sequence. Bath and amenity access is 18+, while massages, facials and body treatments are available from 16+ with a guardian. Day passes are sold through ResortPass rather than Caesars directly, and rates move by date; the Caesars site publishes no flat access fee.
SpasClosed since 2023
Do not book the Water Club spa. It no longer exists
Borgata's $55M tower remodel rebranded The Water Club as MGM Tower and converted the 32nd-floor Immersion Spa footprint into roughly 9,000 square feet of event space. Yelp and Tripadvisor now list the spa as closed, and Borgata redirects spa traffic to Spa Toccare in the main tower. Aggregator pages still recommend Immersion, so this is the single most common bad recommendation in Atlantic City wellness coverage — the correct booking is Spa Toccare.
SpasYear-round
At Spa Toccare, one treatment buys the whole facility
Spa Toccare is now Borgata's only spa, and any booked treatment includes full use of the pool, hot tubs, steam room, sauna and a gym that is genuinely large by casino-spa standards. The menu covers massage, facials, body wraps and nail services. Hours run roughly 9 or 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Day-pass availability is inconsistent, particularly on Saturdays, so call ahead rather than turning up.
SpasYear-round
Rock Spa times the massage to a playlist, and means it
Rock Spa & Salon runs 31 treatment rooms on the third level of Hard Rock's South Tower, including two dedicated Rhythm & Motion rooms where the bodywork is timed to one of four curated playlists. It also offers a Salt Chamber wellness suite, a Sound Body programme and Rock Om yoga. Facility-only access is generally Monday to Thursday at discounted weekday rates, with weekend and holiday non-treatment access restricted — so book an actual treatment if you want a Saturday. A 20% service charge is added on top of listed prices. Hard Rock's $50M refresh does not touch the spa, so there is no reason to avoid booking it this year.
Spas25 min from AC
The only hammam in South Jersey is not in a casino
Revival Spa at Renault Winery Resort in Egg Harbor City, about 25 minutes out, pairs a vineyard setting with a Turkish-style hammam and a salt room — Visit Atlantic City describes it as the only hammam experience in South Jersey. Programming runs past treatments into yoga, sound baths and fitness-centre access, and there is a Pink Lady champagne lounge package if you want a private rest space. This is the answer when every Atlantic City spa is booked out on a summer Saturday.
SpasLaunched May
Ocean added concierge IV drips to its wellness list
Ocean's roughly $20 million of 2026 enhancements includes a wellness component: ShoreShot IV, a concierge in-room intravenous hydration and recovery service that launched in May 2026, plus seasonal Sunrise Salutations yoga in The Park. Yoga is complimentary for hotel guests on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. from May through September. ShoreShot pricing is not published anywhere — you have to call the property. Exhale also still carries the strongest ranking in the market, though the Spas of America citation on Ocean's own page is dated 2021, so read it as most-recent-available rather than current.
CasinosJune figures
Online gaming has outearned all nine casinos for ten straight months
June internet gaming win came in at $271,041,019, up 17.5% year over year, against $257,282,919 won on Atlantic City floors — the tenth consecutive month online has beaten the land-based market. Online produced $60.4M in gaming tax versus roughly $18.9M from the nine casinos. Slots on the floor rose 1.7% to $186.0M while table games fell 6.4% to $71.3M, leaving brick-and-mortar win down 0.7%. Year to date, casino win is $1.41B (+2.3%) against iGaming's $1.59B (+15.0%). The tax engine has moved off the Boardwalk, which reshapes every policy argument in the city.
CasinosReported May 25
Q1 profits fell 22.9% on the highest costs in nine years
Gross operating profit across the nine casinos was $104.7M in Q1 2026, down 22.9%, on essentially flat net revenue of $725.6M. Borgata led at $39.7M (down 18%), Hard Rock at $19.7M (down 25%) and Ocean at $18.7M (down 17%), while Bally's and Golden Nugget operated at a loss. Occupancy improved to 64.6% from 62.9% and ADR to $161.03 from $159.13. The story is margin compression rather than falling revenue: labour and goods costs are eating a flat top line.
CasinosAugust action
The smoking fight reached the state Supreme Court, and now a sick-out
Casinos may currently permit smoking on up to 25% of the floor. Two competing bills sit before lawmakers: S212 for a full indoor ban, and S698 permitting smoking only in separately ventilated enclosures with a 15-foot buffer from live tables. After a Jan 28, 2026 Appellate Division ruling vacated the dismissal and remanded the workers' constitutional challenge, CEASE and UAW Region 9 petitioned the New Jersey Supreme Court in February. Organisers have now called a mass sick-out for a Tuesday in August, targeting 90% participation — the first credible operational threat in a 20-year campaign.
CasinosApril, ECGC
Executives put the New York hit at 25–30% of AC revenue
At the East Coast Gaming Congress in April 2026, Hard Rock International chairman Jim Allen estimated the three downstate New York casinos could cost Atlantic City 25–30% of annual gaming revenue, with more at risk if North Jersey casinos in Monmouth or Bergen are approved. Hard Rock AC president George Goldhoff has said the nine-casino market could shrink to “three or four at best,” and other estimates put the annual hit near $700M. That framing is why every 2026 capital and legislative decision here reads as defensive positioning.
CasinosAug 3
Ilitch takes full ownership of Ocean Casino Resort
The New Jersey Casino Control Commission announced on Aug 3, 2026 that Ilitch Companies completed its buyout to full ownership of Ocean Casino Resort, having been qualified for an initial 50% stake at hearings in September 2021 and July 2022. CCC Chairman James Plousis framed it as a vote of confidence in the market, and the Division of Gaming Enforcement approved the final transaction. It consolidates a single owner behind the market's number-three property just as New York competition arrives.
CasinosJune figures
Sports betting revenue fell 37.7% even as handle rose
June sports wagering gross revenue fell to $57.25M from $91.86M, a 37.7% drop, even though total handle rose 16.0% — the Division of Gaming Enforcement attributed it to patron winnings on the NBA Finals and the FIFA World Cup. Retail sportsbook lounges actually posted a negative $672,671 for the month. Year to date, sports wagering revenue is $513.0M, down 7.1%. It is a useful reminder of how thin sportsbook hold is as a revenue line: one event calendar can erase a third of it.
Casinos2026
Ocean launched the state's first cardless gaming
Ocean launched Cardless Gaming in its mobile app, a first in New Jersey, letting guests card in to slots and tables using a digital Ocean Rewards card scanned by QR code, with cashless payments flagged for a later update. It arrives alongside roughly $20M in summer programming covering Ovation Hall bookings, the HQ2 Beachclub return, new dining concepts and an America's Birthday Bar pop-up at the 1927 Lounge. Atlantic City is effectively testing the hybrid digital-wallet model that fully cashless rollouts elsewhere abandoned.
CasinosFeb 20–22
Two seven-figure jackpots hit Hard Rock in one weekend
Over the weekend of Feb 20–22, 2026, a Long Island player won $1,362,883 on Dragon Link Panda Magic from a $50 bet on a $2-denomination machine. A guest from Wayne, New Jersey hit a royal flush on a $5 Three Card Poker progressive side bet for $1,043,287. Both winners stayed anonymous. A same-weekend seven-figure double is rare, and it is exactly the marketing ammunition the floors want against online play.
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