Melonie Johnson’s job was cut. She only started her job as president and chief operating officer of Borgata in Atlantic City on May 29 amid the raging coronavirus pandemic that forced the closure of casinos across the country.
Just days earlier, the nation had been horrified by the police murder of unarmed black man George Floyd in Minneapolis, which sparked protests across the country, some of which turned violent.
“During this current climate, there was a lot going on with Covid-19, Black Lives Matter,” says Johnson, about receiving the call asking him to move from the National Harbor property of MGM Resorts in Maryland to New Jersey. “Moving from Virginia to Atlantic City was scary for me. But I knew the company needed me on this property.”
Although he’s new to New Jersey and to all the challenges of a city that struggled to polish its brand even before the pandemic, Johnson is not new to casinos. She joined MGM in 2015 as president and chief operating officer of the Gold Strike Casino in Tunica, Mississippi, before heading National Harbor. She had also worked for Caesars and for several Hollywood casinos.
But Borgata’s work requires a new type of agility thanks to the virus that continues to spread endlessly in many parts of the country.
Johnson presided over a closed casino for the first month, without meeting most of his employees face to face. But he knew that many of them were afraid, dealt with disabilities, or cared for family members at high risk of infection.
“We are all human beings first, and we thought about how you would like to be treated and start with that. It’s like, how are we going to open this business,” Johnson told CNBC. “We can’t just focus on the dollar … All businesses are in business for profit. But now we have to put humanity first.”
Still, Johnson says that when he asked workers to return, 94% of them said “Yes.”
But just as New Jersey cleared the way for casinos to reopen on July 2, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy stopped indoor dining due to rising infection rates across the country where restaurants had reopened.
That created a huge and immediate headache for Atlantic City casino-resorts that needed to figure out how to feed casino visitors and hotel guests.
Caesars, Hard Rock, Ocean Casino and others on the famous boardwalk improvised outdoor or take-out food options and opened on July 2.
The Borgata chose to delay the opening for another three weeks.
“We held back until we felt we were ready. And we could deliver the experience that our guests expected.”
Now with open-air cafes, food trucks, and in-room dining, the Borgata reopened its doors, by invitation only, on July 23. – and will welcome the general public on Sunday.
Returning employees will find a very different workplace with Plexiglass shields, mandatory masks, and a new boss.
Johnson, the first African-American woman to lead a casino in Atlantic City, is confident in Borgata’s resilience and makes it clear that safety for employees and customers is a top priority.
When asked about his first day at a new job, in a new city, reopening in the midst of a pandemic and how it is going, Johnson replied with a smile: “Better than I could have imagined.”
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