Weather or not, region's casinos look forward to pleasing crowds

Earl would be most unwelcome at the casinos this weekend.

At worst, he could dash Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun executives' hopes for a three-day consumer-spending binge. Or he could do the decent thing - veer to the right, say, and peter out.

"A huge storm would be bad for everybody involved in the tourism business," Anthony Patrone, Mohegan Sun's senior vice president of marketing, said of Hurricane Earl on Wednesday.

A casino might be a haven, though, if a storm hits.

"We're watching it; we've met on it and we're still meeting on it," said Robert Victoria, Foxwoods' chief marketing officer. "If it's just rain and if people are willing to travel a little, we're a way to get out of the weather."

"Have a hurricane at the bar in Margaritaville and ride it out," Patrone quipped, referring to a Mohegan Sun restaurant.

While public safety departments began monitoring Earl's progress early this week, marketers at the tribally owned casinos have been tweaking preparations for the holiday weekend and keeping their fingers crossed that the summer's unofficial end goes off with a bang and not a whimper.

Aerosmith, the venerable rock group, will perform Saturday night at Mohegan Sun Arena, an event Patrone said would "anchor" the Uncasville casino's weekend schedule. A few hundred of the 8,000 tickets that went on sale for the show - at $135 and $185 - were still available Wednesday, and Patrone said he expected all of them to be snapped up by the time Steven Tyler and Co. take the stage.

Mohegan Sun will feature free acts in its 300-seat Wolf Den Friday through Monday, and will host "Party With A Purpose" Sunday night in the Uncas Ballroom to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association. On Monday, as it has for years, the casino will broadcast the 21½-hour Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon in the ballroom.

At MGM Grand at Foxwoods, Donna Summer, the 1970s disco queen, will launch the weekend Friday night with a performance in the 4,000-seat MGM Grand Theater. Tickets are $55 and $75. Trey Songz and Grammy-winning vocalist Monica will perform in the theater Sunday night.

MGM Grand also is touting a birthday bash Saturday night hosted by Kevin Dillon, star of "Entourage," the HBO television series. Dillon, joined by DJ Clinton Sparks, will preside over "the weekend's most happening celebration" at Shrine, the casino's Asian-themed nightclub, according to a Foxwoods press release.

Both Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun reported year-over-year increases in their slot-machine "wins" for July, the first time they've both posted such gains in the same month in more than two years. It's not yet known whether the upswing continued in August, but this weekend's traffic at the casinos could go a long way toward determining how September's numbers turn out.

"Our calendar is loaded this weekend, but it's strong throughout September," Victoria said. "We're staying aggressive."

Traditionally, the casinos offer special promotions throughout the summer, some of which conclude on Labor Day weekend. Two staples of Mohegan Sun's Hot Summer Fun campaign - free T-shirt giveaways on Fridays and additional free-slot play bonuses on Sundays - end this weekend, as do the $44.99 all-you-can-eat "Seafood Spectacular" at the Sunburst Buffet and the Summer Shack $39 Sunday brunch ("A Shore Thing").

At Foxwoods, the long-running Legends in Concert, featuring "recreations" of Justin Timberlake, Aretha Franklin, Christina Aguilera, Bruce Springsteen and Michael Jackson, ends its current run with performances at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 4 and 7 p.m. Sunday in the Fox Theater. Another installment of "Liquid Sundays," an adults-only poolside party at MGM Grand, is on tap this weekend, too.

"We've got a lot going on," said Victoria, who noted that tickets to the Donna Summer and "Legends" shows were still available, as were a limited number of hotel rooms at the Foxwoods casinos.

The casinos also will be taking direct aim at this weekend's gamblers with such promotions as Foxwoods' $300,000 Labor Day Cash Giveaway. Patrons who hold Dream Card players club memberships can participate by swiping their card at any of the Foxwoods casinos' kiosks or by playing any slot machine, table game, keno, poker or bingo. Foxwoods plans to give away $5,000 every 30 minutes from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Sunday and Monday. At 8 p.m. each day, a guest will win $50,000.

Mohegan Sun will launch its $200,000 Fall into Fun Giveaway promotion at 6 a.m. Monday, offering its Player's Club members the chance to win cash, Player's Club points and free slots play, with a grand prize of $10,000. The promotion will continue until Nov. 1.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com