Bet MGM Sports book My Wednesday night plans always included me spending some time here because I like to change it up. Some people can gamble for 8 to 12 hours, but I am not one of them. Part of it is standing for hours to play craps or roulette, or sitting for hours in a front of black jack table or video poker machine. Another part is that just doing the same thing for hours just gets old to me. Some people like to do the hit and run, which I'm not into as well, either. I'm more in the Goldilocks zone of gambling - not too much, not too little, but just right - and spending some time at the sports book puts me in that zone. When I was in Las Vegas in January, I spent time at the sports books at Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, Luxor, Aria, Bellagio, and Park MGM. Borgata's sports book is based off the Bet MGM model at ParkMGM and The Cosmopolitan in that it is really a sports bar and restaurant. This is the smart way to go with physical sports book with the advent of legal internet and mobile sports gambling. In terms of size, the Borgata Bet MGM Sports book is, in my unofficial observations, bigger than any other the Bet MGM sportsbook in Las Vegas. It may be comparable to Mandalay Bay and Bellagio, but it is definitely bigger than MGM Grand, The Cosmopolitan, Park MGM, Aria, Excalibur, New York New York, and Luxor. There are 3 ways to enter the sports book: one from the "east" across from the B-Prime steak house, one from the "west" across from the poker room (and the closest restrooms to use), and one from the "southwest" across from the Premier nightclub. In the middle of the sports book is the bar in the shape of an oval. To the left of the bar are lounge chairs that you have to call to reserve, the BetMGM kiosks, and the betting windows. "South" of the bar are the main screens along with tables and chairs. "North" and "west" of the oval bar are more tables and chairs along with high tops and high chairs as well. Although the property map shows the sports book as a cross between a parallelogram and a circle, it is really an oval as you have LED displays encircled through the entire sports book. I did not an official count, but my unofficial observation is that this sports book probably has the most LED displays to watch games than any of the BetMGM sports book in Las Vegas.
In case any one was wondering why I didn't stick around to see if I could get an opening at the $10 minimum craps table, the answer is simple. Unlike @VegasDaytripper, I'm not worthy yet... But seriously, on Wednesdays, the Bet MGM sports book closes at 11 PM. Also, the restaurant is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesday at the sports book. So the new, new, new plan is to have a few beers, hang out and watch games, then go get dinner. At this moment, it appears that my rewards card is not working, so I'm not making any sports bets at the kiosks, no one is available at the sports book windows, and I don't feel like rushing on my iPhone to make sports bets on the Bet MGM app. There are times, in my unofficial opinion, that no gamble is a good gamble. It appears this is one of those times.
This is the web link for the Borgata Bet MGM sports book hours of operation: https://borgata.mgmresorts.com/en/restaurants/betmgm-sportsbook-and-bar.html This is the web link for the sports book restaurant menu: https://borgata.mgmresorts.com/en/restaurants/betmgm-sportsbook-and-bar.html
To watch the particular games, I had to sit at the south end of the oval bar and sit diagonally towards the poker room and race book to watch. After ordering a Sam Adams Summer Ale, I start looking at the different video poker pay tables. So, @Iceyiceyb , on a whim, I decide to insert my reward card. It works.
Now that my MGM Rewards card works, I multi-task in the sports book by watching game on my right while slowly playing hands of Triple Double Bonus for 90 minutes. Halfway through the 90 minutes, I have to move to the north side of the bar because the games I was watching on my right are now on the big LED displays right behind me. If I was sitting on a old time diner spinning stool, I may be able to work this out, but I would probably end up with vertigo by spinning around and around to watch the games, spin back to play a hand, spin around watch more of the games, and spin around to play another hand - you get the concept there. The video poker machines on the south half of the oval appear to be in great shape as the first one's touch screen worked great. After going to the north half of the oval to face the big LED displays, I find out that the north half of machines have definitely been rode hard and put away wet. Either the touch screen isn't responsive or the card reader won't read my challenged card, so I'm on Rode Hard machine number 4 when I have a machine that has a responsive touch screen and is able to read my card. During all of this time, there may have been, at most 8 people in the sports book while I was there. So, when it's 10:30, and I am the only one in the sports book, the manager comes up to me and says that they are closing early for the night. So I didn't have a very long video poker session, and I was probably playing a hand every 2 minutes of so because I was watching multiple games at the same time. Now, it is decision time. I could walk over to the craps table to see if it is still $10 and if there is a spot opening, or I could get dinner. Since the last thing I ate in the past 8 hours was a Wawa pretzel, dinner won out.
Dinner Choices at Borgata Since I picked the most degenerate of days (Wednesday) to stay overnight at Borgata, America and B-Prime steak house were closed for Wednesday. Old Homestead steak house closed at 10, and Angeline, which is Italian, closed at 9:30 The Metropolitan is closed after 2 PM Mondays through Thursdays. I've eaten there before back in 2018, and the food there is solid. The first time I ate there in the evening, I was sitting at a table next to some Conrail retirees from Philadelphia, and had a great conversation for almost 2 hours. The second time I ate there, I ate at the U-shaped counter. I'm comfortable sitting at the counter, but that's probably due to going to late night sports bar restaurants where the bar is the only place you will get served. The Borgata Buffet is open Friday to Mondays, and when I ate there once, it was pretty solid as well. I knew all this because I checked out the restaurants web page before driving out. The restaurants web page is this: https://borgata.mgmresorts.com/en/restaurants.html?kbid=2584521&ecid=PS_BB_HO_GGLB_HP_RG_BG_010124&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwrIixBhBbEiwACEqDJfeCeEhFDto-biPh8GMcF-z76Mq8Sd3laIdOcmuWMo_eC3m84GfmahoCSg0QAvD_BwE However, I still had options. I could go to the food hall by the poker room, I could go to Bread + Butter, or I could go to where I planned to go all along: Noodles of the World (N.O.W.)
Noodles of the World Not only is N.O.W. close by the B Bar and the table games, the food and service is fast and good. Every time I have been at the Borgata, I have eaten at N.O.W. Here is the web link to the N.O.W. menu: https://static.mgmresorts.com/content/dam/MGM/mgmresorts/menus/borgata/now/menu.pdf When I walked right up to the entrance, they asked me if I wanted a table or a counter seat. I took a counter seat, and ordered the Sa Cha Beef Noodle soup. Sorry - no photos. There were 2 people eating on my left and 2 people at my right, and I felt awkward taking photos of my meal before eating. Speaking unofficially as a non-Asian eater, N.O.W. is up there to me along with Din Tai Fung and Lemongrass in Aria as just awesome places for Asian food. All of you Asian readers feel free to correct me, but being in the epicenter of cheese steaks and great Italian food that is New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, this is some good Asian food to me.
I did take a photo of the TDB VP pay table at the Bet MGM sports book for those who are interested in this sort of thing.
I also saw a slot machine that @LovablePenguin may like as well on the way to the Bet MGM Sports book.
Forgot to mention, but if you have a MGM gold card, check out the Amphora Lounge. I go there every time I am at Borgata and it is about 12 comp dollars for free alcohol and food. Great benefit if you are that tier or higher
N.O.W. is one of two restaurants at Borgata I really like. I love the Peking shrimp and chicken and the XO shrimp fried rice.
After dinner, I went over to the craps table. The table minimum was still $10, and the table was still packed. If I wanted to play, there was another table that had open spots, but the table minimum was $25. I'll wait. After walking around for 30 minutes or so, and walking through the crowded B bar as Freedom Mortgage was having a leadership conference at the Borgata, the $10 craps table was still packed. Not a problem. I have Thursday morning/early afternoon to play if there is a $10 minimum table with spots open.
Metropolitan has lost a step since Covid. I used to go there lots. N.O.W is one of the few places that seems to have kept up its food quality. The Beef Tendon and Brisket Soup, or Sa Cha Beef Noodle Soup are my go to there. Along with the Crispy Shrimp Salt and Pepper appetizer. The only annoying thing is they've added a 18% service charge to all takeout orders that you can't pay with reward points since Covid. I used to get a ton of food to go home with but not so much anymore cause that service charge. 5% or even 10% I'd be ok with but 18% seems like they are gouging me!
The Pump Room fitness center After waking up and getting some work down in the hotel room, I pack up and take my Jason Bourne duffel bag to my truck. However, that does not mean I'm done with the hotel part of the Borgata. I have not checked out yet, so I go to the Spa floor (2). This is where Spa Toccare, The Salon, The Barbershop, and the Pump Room fitness center are located. The fitness center has a wall window the width of the fitness center overlooking the indoor pool. The cardio equipment (treadmills, elliptical cross trainers, and stationary bicycles) face the wall window so you can people watch the indoor pool if you choose not to watch television on the cardio equipment monitor. Compared to the MGM Grand, Vdara, Park MGM, and Aria fitness centers, this is bigger than those fitness centers in Las Vegas. It also has the most strength training equipment I have ever seen in a MGM Resorts hotel in Las Vegas. Before Borgata fully became part of MGM Resorts (pre-2018 it was a joint venture between MGM and Boyd), you had to pay extra to use the fitness center. That stopped in 2018 because the fitness center was now included in the resort fee. When I used the fitness center all 3 times in 2018, you had to sign in a check-in sheet and a waiver before you could used anything. Now, the check in area is gone, so you just walk on in. This fitness center has approximately 20 Nautilus/Cybex machines, a Smith machine with approximately 300 pounds of barbell plates, dumbbell rack that has dumbbells up to 75 pounds, and a Iron Grip-type fixed barbells set that ranges from 20 pounds to 110 pounds. For someone who does use the fitness center, this is the best hotel fitness center I have ever used. The web link to the fitness center web page is this: https://borgata.mgmresorts.com/en/amenities/spa-and-salon.html
Thursday early afternoon After leaving the fitness center, it's one more attempt to play craps. If I don't play, that's okay because this trip is more of a reconnaissance trip than a gambling trip. I still have 2950 fun coupons available, but it doesn't mean I have to use them. I want to see if there is a $10 minimum table available, and if it is a fun table to play. First, it's off to the MGM Rewards desk where I get 2 replacement cards, so I now have a backup in case one of the cards goes bad. I go over to the craps table, and I see that there is a spot available, it is a $10 minimum table of 2 open tables as the other open table is $25 minimum, and the shooter has just sevened out when I got there. I want to see what the temperature and the temperament of the table is right now. I watch the next 3 shooters, and watched all 3 set the point, roll a 6 or an 8 the next 3 rolls, and then seven out. After seeing this, and getting a really weird vibe from the table, I decided that I'm taking a hard pass from playing today. The table was strangely quiet and subdued. I've been at Irish and Italian wakes that have had more energy, excitement, and fun that this table. Maybe it was due to 3 of the players sitting on stools and a fourth player sitting in a chair taken from the Also, what all of the 10 players were were doing was buying and placing bets after the first roll after the point was set. Let me explain: The first shooter I watched set the point, which was a 4. No one bought or placed any bets after 4 was established. The shooter rolled a 6. After the shooter rolled a 6, then players started buying or placing bets. At first, I thought this was just an anomaly. However, this happened with all 3 consecutive shooter that I watched. Along with the table being weirdly quiet, I just wasn't feeling it, especially with me showing up to see one shooter seven out and then the next 3 shooters seven out after 5 rolls. However, I'm happy to finally find a MGM Resorts casino that has $10 table games at least on a Wednesday night and on an early Thursday afternoon.
The Drive Back I drove back to Virginia almost the same way that I drove to New Jersey. After leaving Borgata, I took US 30 to Delilah Road to N Main Street to US 40. My lunch plans were to have a late lunch at the Elmer Diner. When I got to the Elmer Diner, the restaurant was packed. That's a good thing, even though I was hungry, because that means the food must be good there, or every one in Elmer was hungry at the same time I was at 2 PM. I decided to press on and continue driving to the Delaware Memorial Bridge to US 13 south to Delaware 1/US 301 south to the Bay Bridge. After taking US 50 west to I-495/I-95, I decided to take I-495/I-95 south instead of repeating the I-695/I-395 mistake I made the day before. At this point is where the traffic became stop and go until I got the I-495 Maryland express lanes. This section is similar to the I-270 express lanes as they are not toll lanes, but you cannot access any exits until you drive past Alexandria, VA. This is also where I drive past MGM National Harbor as well as it is the last exit in Maryland before crossing the Potomac River. Compared to the day before, the trip back was much easier and enjoyable.
Before I do a wrap up about the one-nighter, I might as well get right to the point on answering the question was driving to New Jersey and back using the Bay Bridge, US 301, and US 40 worth it to me? Well, in one word
