Beach-O-Matic: Atlantic City, N.J. Sunday, May 17, 1997; Page E06

For gamblers. Everything else, including the ocean, is secondary.

What's There?

The 14 casinos, natch ... performers ranging from Celine Dion to Jay Leno ... Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge ... Steel Pier with arcades and rides ... the new AA-equivalent Atlantic City Surf minor league baseball team

Lodging

16,000 hotel and motel rooms; more than half represent beachfront casino hotels. Access Atlantic City (1-888-777-2711) offers a free reservation service for such hotels as the Tropicana, the Sands, Atlantic City Hilton and Harrahs. Weekend rates range from $140 to $225 a night.

Bargains

You can save as much as 50 percent by going midweek.

The Drive

177 miles, 3 ¾ hours

Quirk

A penurious candy shop owner here inadvertently invented salt-water taffy after a flood that doused the plain stuff.

Contact

1-888-228-4748, http://www.atlanticcitynj.com