While Atlantic City's Resorts Casino Hotel has Club Piscopo, which, yes, means you can see Joe Piscopo, it also is home to Prohibition, very possibly the "first full-time gay bar at any big American casino." The casino's CEO Dennis Gomes told the NY Times, "I feel like I’m doing something that needs to be done, but it’s perfect because the right thing to do is the lucrative thing to do, too." Word.
A former city councilman, John Schultz, and his longtime partner Gary Hill suggested the idea to Gomes; Schultz told OnlinePoker.net, “People think gays don’t gamble. That’s not true. They gamble. They drink. They like to travel. And they have that extra income. Why do cruise lines have gay weeks? Because 2,000 to 3,000 gay people who can afford it go on their ships. It’s a new world now.”
One patron agreed and explained to the Times, "As a gay person, the places you could go to were almost creepy, not chic at all. We’re looking for the same thing as everyone else. We have money to spend and want to have fun. I don’t know why this didn’t happen before."
The nightclub is doing well, attracting patrons from New York, D.C. and Philadelphia...and the drag shows have even been a hit with middle-aged straight customers. For the next drag show idea, might we suggest a Sex and the City-theme?
