Tips for Navigating Atlantic City Casinos

Are you looking to take your online gambling experience to the tables of Atlantic City? Learn how to navigate your way around Atlantic City’s casinos with these eight tips.

With nine casinos operating within its borders, Atlantic City is a major entertainment and tourism hub for New Jersey. Throughout these glittering establishments, you can find gambling machines and table games to appeal to any and every gambler out there.

If it’s your first time to Atlantic City, things can feel a bit overwhelming, so we want to help you navigate the area to get the most out of your visit. Here are eight things to know before your trip to America’s Favorite Playground.

Take In the Ambience First

Don’t sit down at the first table or slot machine that you see and start betting straight away while you’re feeling that first rush of adrenaline. Get a sense of the casino: Where are the roulette tables? What types of poker are on offer?

You’ll probably be faced with slot machines when you first enter the establishment, as these are the big money makers for the casino. If you’re here to try real-life slots, then traverse the aisles before plopping down at any machine. You might find one with a theme that you really love, which will make your gambling experience even more fun.

If you’re more attracted to table games, then this is your opportunity to find the table that’s right for you. Look for minimum and maximum bets, payout ratios, and styles that work best with your gambling preferences.

Practice Online Before You Go

If you already live in New Jersey and are finally planning a trip to Atlantic City, you have a major advantage. Plenty of Atlantic City establishments like Borgata or Golden Nugget have online casinos where you can try games like blackjack, roulette, or poker.

It can be easy to get caught up in the moment as you watch the chips fly around you in a real casino, so get in some practice online beforehand so you can feel more cool and confident while you make your wagers.

Dress More for Comfort Than Style

Atlantic City is a tourist destination, so the establishments won’t have fancy dress codes you’ll need to follow. While it’s always a great idea to look clean and presentable, you should think more about your comfort and how it pairs with your preferred gambling style.

Do you plan on spending most of your time at the slots? Make sure you’re wearing something that you’re comfortable sitting in for hours at a time.

Do you picture yourself playing craps, roulette, or other games that require more movement? Wear a shirt or dress that gives you freedom of movement, especially in the arms.

Even more importantly, think about temperature. In the summertime, casinos will blast their air conditioning to keep the heat away, but that also means you’ll probably feel chilly indoors. Bring along a light jacket (that’s still comfortable and allows movement) to make sure you’re not feeling cold and miserable so you can thoroughly enjoy your winning streak.

Know How To Get Around

The Atlantic City boardwalk stretches for 4 miles along the shoreline. This is where you can find more than half of the city’s casinos, so you’ll probably be spending a lot of time in this area.

While the boardwalk is easy to traverse on foot, maybe you don’t want to walk the whole way. You can rent one of the rolling chairs that have been a part of boardwalk history since the late 1800s. These are shaded surreys that attendants push up and down the length of the boardwalk, and you can grab one any time of day or night.

Another option for traveling between casinos is along Pacific Avenue, which is one block inland from the boardwalk and runs parallel to it. You can catch one of the jitneys that run 24 hours a day.

Understand the Age Limits

In order to gamble inside an Atlantic City casino, you must be at least 21 years old. Underage folks can go inside the casinos so long as they aren’t drinking alcohol or gambling. It’s expected that any underage visitors will simply be walking through these areas, as they aren’t allowed to loiter in the gambling areas.

This means that if you’ve brought your children along on your trip, you should make sure that they’re set with their own supervised entertainment or childcare while you try your luck at the tables.

Follow Casino Etiquette

To help keep everything running smoothly and to avoid any confusion, you should follow some basic rules about how to behave inside a casino. These include:

• Don’t sit at a table unless you’re going to make a wager. This means you shouldn’t just sit around to watch your friend play.
• Wait until a hand or round is finished before you sit down at a table.
• Never touch your chips after the round has begun.
• Don’t touch your winnings until the dealer has counted out your chips and pushed them toward you.
• Never take out your phone at the table.

Generally, do your best to make it easy for the staff to keep track of everything that’s going on, and don’t act like a fool.

Tip the Staff

You should always keep cash on hand in order to tip the staff. If you’re at a table or machine, you should tip your cocktail servers at least $1 every time they bring you a drink, though $2 is better. You can also tip your cocktail servers with chips.

If you’re buying your drinks at the bar and paying each round, you should also tip $1-2 per order. Otherwise, you should tip your bartenders and servers the same way you would anywhere else, at 15-20% (or more) of the total bill.

You’re also expected to tip your dealers. A good average is $5 per hour of play. While it’s great to tip more if you’re winning big, remember that this won’t really help your odds in these games of chance. If you’re on a lucky streak, tip with your heart. And tip your dealer only with chips rather than cash.

Sign Up for a Players Card

Different casinos might refer to the concept by different names, but many establishments offer some sort of players club that you should sign up to join. These cards allow the casinos to track your play, and this is how you can get complimentary perks.

Even if you’re planning on trying out multiple casinos on your trip to Atlantic City, it would behoove you to sign up for players cards at every casino you can. When you’re finished at each establishment, you can check with the players desk to see what you’ve earned — maybe it’s a discounted or even free meal. If you spend enough time at a particular casino, you might start qualifying for a free room.

Before you go, check the different casinos’ websites to see if they have rewards cards and what their desk hours are so you can get your card straight away.

Now That You’re Ready…

So you’ve booked your trip and you’re excited to get started trying your luck in Atlantic City. Remember these tips to keep your cool and not feel overwhelmed when you’re finally inside one of these famed casinos.

And if you don’t think you’re ready just yet for a real trip to Atlantic City itself, always remember that you can try out the casinos online for the same thrill without all the pressure of being around other players.