ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – Terril Tate left her home an hour before dawn Thursday to be one of the first players at a craps table when the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino reopened its doors at 6 am.
I expected a victory, and maybe a date. But Mr. Tate, 41, said he was also on a mission to pave the way for people who still don’t feel safe enough, he called them “robots of concern,” to venture into recreational and leisure spaces. indoor.
“There must be someone who catches fire first,” said Tate, a trucker from Toms River, New Jersey. “Once people see that it’s okay, they will come back.”
As coronavirus cases increased in the states that reopened earlier, New Jersey advanced Thursday with its plan to allow casinos in Atlantic City to begin operating for the first time since March 16.
In the morning, workers far outstripped punters, but a cautious celebratory mood grew as the day wore on and idle hotels began to fill with guests on the eve of a long holiday weekend.
The reopening came several days after Democratic Governor Philip D. Murphy abruptly decided not to allow food indoors due to worrying signs that spikes in the virus in other parts of the country were linked to crowds gathered in confined spaces, like restaurants and bars. On Wednesday, New York also indefinitely suspended indoor dining.
The difficulty in striking a safe balance between the still-real threat from the virus and the economic needs of a region paralyzed by the shutdown was displayed in casinos up and down the historic Atlantic City boardwalk.
Masks were required on the sprawling gaming floors, and food, drinks, and smoking were prohibited. The plexiglass separated the players at the poker tables attended by dealers with masks. Signs full of catchy and warning phrases: “A clean hand is a winning hand,” “Have a heart, stay 6 feet away,” were as common as hand sanitizer.
At Hard Rock, as soon as a customer walked away from a slot machine, cleaning crews dressed in lime green “Clean Team” shirts descended with spray bottles and wipes.
When Atlantic City’s nine casinos closed, 27,000 workers were instantly out of a job, leaving many to rely on food banks as they struggled to access unemployment insurance through a system bogged down by delays and technical problems. An analysis by the Brookings Institution found that the Atlantic City economy could be the third most affected by the pandemic in the country.
Casinos in Las Vegas reopened a month ago with fewer security restrictions than those in Atlantic City. Last week, a union representing casino workers in Las Vegas filed a lawsuit alleging that employees were not immediately informed that their colleagues had tested positive for the virus.
Masks were initially optional in Las Vegas casinos, but are now mandatory as the number of cases in Nevada increases.
Early Thursday in Atlantic City casinos, it was easy to maintain a safe social distance as crowds were scarce, which would not be unusual even in normal times.
At 10 am, there were 109 people at the tables and slot machines of the Ocean Casino Resort, in a space with a maximum capacity of 14,000, according to Mike Donovan, director of marketing.
“I feel less at risk than in the supermarket,” said Virginia Hight, 71, of Mount Laurel, New Jersey, waving her arm at the empty rows of Ocean slot machines and the open space on the floor. “You could go bowling at this place.”
Ms. Hight said she came to play slot machines primarily to get out of her home and away from constant reminders of her husband’s recent death. Her death was unrelated to Covid-19, she said, and any qualms she had about her own safety were outweighed by her need for a detour. The oxygen tank she uses to help her breathe rested discreetly at her feet.
“It probably shouldn’t be here,” he said. “But it was good to take a shower, comb my hair, put on my mask and go out.”
Some of the first to reach casinos wore gloves or wore wet wipes to protect themselves from germs. Most spoke of simply needing a break from the monotony of the pandemic.
“Just to clear my mind, it’s relaxing,” said Rosetta Williams, 30, of Philadelphia. She was all smiles after winning $ 136 on a slot machine. And it was still only 6:15 am
Tate said she was reveling in the new freedoms.
“Just the freedom to do what you want, when you want,” he said. “I just got back to normal. Don’t ‘don’t do this, don’t do that.’ “
Safety precautions seem to vary widely.
At Hard Rock, each person who entered the building had their temperatures scanned with thermal imaging monitors. At Ocean, only employee temperatures were taken.
Another casino, the Borgata, decided not to reopen at all after the governor backed down on indoor food and drink, limiting the nightlife that’s so important to Atlantic City’s character and profit margins.
Hard Rock International President James F. Allen said he had also considered staying closed.
“We are probably not going to make a lot of money,” he said in an interview. “But it is important that people go back to work.”
About 60 percent of Hard Rock employees returned to work, he said.
The casino, he said, decided early on to make an investment in imaging technology, given the likelihood that coronavirus will be a long-lasting threat in the United States.
“We decided that this was not going to go away in a couple of weeks, and it was important to invest in a long-term mindset for the safety of our employees and guests,” said Allen.
Temperature devices also provide a facial record of everyone who enters the building – information that can be easily combined with surveillance cameras and the electronic cards most players use to place bets, creating an efficient contact tracking system. .
The inability to reopen restaurants and bars led some customers to cancel reservations at the 1,400-room hotel in Ocean, Donovan said.
“That’s a pretty tough combination to beat,” he said. “But we will get through it and hopefully in a couple of weeks we will be able to have more expanded offers.”
Still, he said the hotel hoped to reach full occupancy on Friday night.
The Hard Rock decided to reserve only 75 percent of its rooms. Of the available rooms, 90 percent were full on Thursday and were sold out over the weekend, said Tanya Scalisi, a spokeswoman.
Joe Arnashus has a celebrity following like the founder of Everything AC Casinos, the largest Facebook group related to gambling of this type on the East Coast.
He was invited to play the first ceremonial round of cards at Ocean Casino after a ribbon cutting ceremony that featured dancers adorned with feathers and sequined face masks.
He said the security precautions required by the pandemic were a temporary inconvenience.
“We can live with that for a while,” said Arnashus. “We do the best we can with what they treat us with.”
