Others were fine with doing whatever would let them gamble as quickly as possible. Sign up for NBC Philadelphia newsletters. Get Philly local news, weather forecasts, sports and entertainment stories to your inbox. I'm a smoker and I'm trying to find some way around this.” “It's great to be back,” said Tony Revaman of Atlantic City, who visited the casinos at least twice a week before they shut down March 16. Patrons for the most part observed social distancing guidelines as well, helped along by plexiglass dividers between seats at card, craps and roulette tables, and slot machines turned off at certain intervals to create distance between players. The casinos are limited to no more than 25% of usual capacity, but that did not appear to be a problem Thursday morning. A few wore full face-covering hoods that extended to their chests. In 2 1/2 hours on the gambling floor of the Hard Rock casino, an Associated Press reporter did not see a single customer without a face mask. Phil Murphy appeared to be nearly universal, at least in the early going. “You change perception by reality.Eager to hit the slot machines and table games after a 108-day absence, gamblers wore face masks and did without smoking and drinking Thursday as Atlantic City's casinos reopened amid the coronavirus pandemic that has drastically changed things both inside and outside the casino walls.Ĭompliance with a series of anti-virus measures imposed by New Jersey Gov. “Clean and safe, clean and safe, clean and safe: That just has to be the mantra,” said Paul Juliano, senior vice president of Bally’s Corp. Look at what is right in front of you: cleanliness and safety issues.”Ītlantic City Mayor Marty Small made a clean-and-safe initiative a big part of his plans for this year during his state of the city speech last month. “Make Atlantic City as great as it can be in the next two or three years. “If we could wake up and Atlantic City was this perfect seaside community, we would weather those threats,” said Mark Giannantonio, president of Resorts. The executives said it is essential that Atlantic City carry out a sustained “clean-and-safe” initiative. Many of the major gambling and hospitality companies have also expressed interest in building a New York casino.

Jim Allen, Hard Rock’s global chairperson, said last month he expects the actual selection process to begin in late summer or early fall, assuming the necessary legislation to authorize as many as three casinos is enacted by then.

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