Former Borgata Marketing Executive Joins Hard Rock Atlantic City as VP

Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Atlantic City plan to make giant strides with Michael Woodside joining as their vice president. The former Borgata Marketing executive has been part of the Institute for 17 years, making him a veteran. Woodside acting as the VP of marketing and entertainment will help the venture expand its proceedings immensely.

Woodside joined MGM Resorts back in 2020 during the health outbreak. The veteran was a part of Borgata since 2008 and possesses a multitude of knowledge in player development, casino credit, marketing, and entertainment. 

Borgata Losing a Valuable Asset?

Atlantic City is witnessing fierce competition brewing, as nine resorts and casinos are emerging from previous year’s mishaps. The institutions are eager to gather customers and garner as much market share as possible. 

Borgata has dominated the Atlantic City casino circuit for years now. Their largest land-based GGR (gross gaming revenue) for the previous five years came through the MGM property. Here is a quick overview of the earnings:

Hard Rock commenced its ventures in Mid-2018 after spending over 500 million dollars in renovating the former Trump Taj Mahal. Compared to Borgata, the casino resort controlled a substantially smaller market share. Back in 2018, its GGR was recorded at 161.6 million dollars, which grew to 324 million dollars in 2019. The previous year witnessed Hard Rock’s GGR dipping to 224.8 million dollars.

In an attempt to maintain its market prevalence, Borgata even filed a lawsuit against Ocean Casino. It is stated that the institute poached six of Borgata’s marketing executives to join the casino. However, Borgata settled the lawsuit in April without any official details. 

Being the former VP of marketing in Borgata, it is safe to assume that Woodside played a crucial role in its market dominance. That is why Woodside’s departure from Borgata is a massive hit for the casino resort.

Will Atlantic City’s Market Share Change Now?

The first half of 201 saw Atlantic City racking over 895.5 million dollars worth of GGR from land-based gaming. As expected, Borgata dominated the contribution part with 2018.9 million dollars, accounting for 23.3% of the total.

As of now, Hard Rock is the second-ranked casino in the city with 151.1 million dollars worth of revenue in its 5-month stretch. Its total covers 17% market share, which is expected to grow with Woodside’s acquisition.

The Ocean is right behind the two with 106.2 million dollars (11.8%), making the competition more exciting.