Atlantic City will celebrate July 4th weekend with a bang, though not with fireworks.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has given the city’s nine casinos permission to reopen starting this week. Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, the Golden Nugget, Ocean Casino Resort and Resorts Casino Hotel will reopen July 2. Caesars Entertainment properties—Caesars, Bally’s and Harrah’s—will resume operation July 3. Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, which planned to open to the public July 6 after a soft opening, will remain closed until further notice.
The gaming halls will operate at 25 percent capacity to start, and face masks will be required of everyone. Indoor dining will not resume however, and the sale of alcohol will be prohibited at bars inside the casinos, along with a smoking ban. Murphy imposed the restriction Monday, reversing his initial opening guidelines. The governor said he acted because of a lack of compliance over the use of face masks and social distancing as the coronavirus outbreak continues to rage in many parts of the country.
Casinos will also increase hand sanitizers on hand and enforce safe social distancing.
Hard Rock President Joe Lupo said he’s confident that Hard Rock’s safety standards will meet—and probably exceed—standards imposed by the state. “Our air filtration is better than most hospitals,” he said.
The casino’s player database will be able to assist health authorities with any contact tracing that may become necessary.
“With 85 percent of our customers being rated, we can provide details on when they played, for how long, which beverage servers were in the vicinity, which room they stayed in, where they ate,” Lupo said.
The Borgata had its reopening protocols in place—including masks, screenings for Covid-19 symptoms for workers and guests, hand sanitizer stations and enforced social distancing—but with restrictions now placed on food, beverage and smoking, the casino has decided to postpone its reopening.
MGM Resorts International, Borgata’s parent company, released a statement saying that they “respect the Governor’s decision to postpone the reopening of indoor dining in New Jersey to protect the public,” but that the casino will not join the party. “Our guests expect a special experience when they come to our property and if we cannot provide that level of hospitality, we feel it best that we remain closed until such time that the Governor lets us know it is safe to offer food and beverage,” the statement read.
Resorts Casino Hotel expects to rely on air ionization and ultraviolet light as part of its sterilization protocols, and every other slot machine will be disabled to keep guests separated.
The reopening comes at a critical time for the resort.
“In the past two years, Atlantic City’s casinos made 30 percent of their total net revenue for the year in the third quarter, so the next three months are crucial for them to regain some financial stability,” said Jane Bokunewicz, coordinator of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute for Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at Stockton University.
Mayor Marty Small Sr. said the reopening is “the first step to getting our economy back open. Hopefully, we’ll see droves and droves of people here, in a safe way, on the Fourth of July weekend.”
Occupancy limits apply to the gaming floor, entertainment venues and hotel towers. Atlantic City Fire Chief Scott Evans said officials are compiling data to determine the capacity limitations for each property.
“We’re very comfortable and confident we’ll be able to open up safely and securely,” Lupo said.
In related news, Unite Here, the union representing employees in the hotel, gaming and transportation industries in the city, covered health insurance payments for furloughed employees through June 30. Now it wants casino companies to step up.
“I hope that the company realizes that we are front of the line employees, we do our job with a lot of love and dedication to provide our customers with great service, to make them feel safe, and we want to feel safe as well,” said Mineli Polanco, who works at the Borgata.
Union leaders and casino owners are discussing an agreement, according to NJ.com.
“We are working with the leaders of Unite Here to reach an agreement regarding health coverage,” said an MGM Resorts spokesperson.
If an agreement is not reached, workers will lose coverage.
The New Jersey State Senate approved a series of tax breaks that would help the shuttered casinos recover their losses. Union representatives are calling for the tax and fee cuts to be applied toward healthcare coverage if the bill passes the Assembly.
To drive home their point, casino employees put together a caravan of more than 600 cars as a form of protest and drove to the casinos where they used to work before the pandemic, according to Fox 29.
“We need them to have coverage for July to the end of the year because we know not everyone is going to go back to work immediately and those who do they may work reduced hours,” said Donna DeCaprio, secretary and treasurer for Unite Here Local 54.
