© Mark Makela/Getty Images The opening comes even though New Jersey has decided to postpone the reopening of indoor dining.

Atlantic City casinos officially opened their doors on Thursday after a monthslong pause even as the state has paused the reopening of indoor dining.

The hotel and casino remain open 24-hours a day. In-room dining is available 24 hours on Saturday and Sunday, 7AM - 12PM and 5PM - 12AM Monday through Friday. After 10 p.m., Borgata will offer takeout from Bread + Butter, Noodles of the World, and Lobby Bar. Beverage service on the casino floor is prohibited between 10 p.m. ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday postponed the resumption of indoor dining, and banned drinking and smoking at Atlantic City's casinos as they reopen this week. ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — 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.

The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City opened at 6 a.m. on July 2, one of the first casinos on the boardwalk to reopen, the casino shared with Travel + Leisure. In line with New Jersey’s requirement, the casino required masks be worn. The Hard Rock also took the temperatures of all guests, placed more than 200 hand sanitizer dispensers around the casino, and bought more than 1,000 air filters for common areas.

The Tropicana AC also reopened on Thursday, implementing their safety plan, which limits the number of people who can sit at each table game.

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Bally’s, Caesars, and Harrah’s Resort, which are all part of Caesars Entertainment, planned to reopen a day later on July 3, the company told T+L.

“The well-being of our team members and guests is important to us, and we are focused on enhancing our health and safety protocols to provide an enjoyable guest experience that emphasizes social distancing and cleanliness,” Ron Baumann, the regional president for Caesars Entertainment, Atlantic City region, said in a statement.

© Provided by Travel + Leisure Mark Makela/Getty Images

Last month, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said casinos along the waterfront city could reopen, but with a cap of 25 percent capacity. Initially, the opening date was aligned with the return of indoor dining, but it has been since postponed.

“There's an enormous amount of protocols being put in place, including social distancing, sanitization, hygienic barriers... But the great thing about casinos, they're already the most closely monitored entities in our state, if not our country,” Murphy told reporters during a news conference on Wednesday ahead of the reopening. “We have got to say this unequivocally, people have to have face coverings indoors. You just have to have them. You won't be let in and if you don't have it on when you're in, you're going to be asked to leave.”

Not all hotels, however, chose to open right away. While the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa originally planned to reopen on July 6, the hotel decided to postpone that when Murphy postponed indoor dining.

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“We respect the Governor’s decision to postpone the reopening of indoor dining in New Jersey to protect the public. Given this decision, our property… will remain closed,” the hotel said in a statement. “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 reopening of casinos in Atlantic City follows the resumption of gambling in Las Vegas last month. Casinos in Nevada were first allowed to reopen on June 4 with safety measures in place, but masks not required. On June 17, the Nevada Gaming Control Board updated its health policies to require guests to wear masks when playing table games if there wasn’t a barrier separating players and dealers.

New Jersey allowed outdoor amusement parks, playgrounds, museums, and boardwalk arcades to reopen.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — America’s casinos are recovering from months of closures necessitated by the coronavirus outbreak, having regained 81% of the gambling revenue they saw in the third quarter of last year, the casinos’ trade association said Monday.

But that recovery is threatened in places as the virus continues to surge throughout the country. Sunday night, Michigan’s governor ordered numerous businesses including casinos to shut down for three weeks, and Atlantic City’s top casino last week laid off or cut the hours of 422 workers in response to restrictions imposed by New Jersey’s governor.

Also on Sunday, Washington’s governor also banned indoor service at restaurants and bars.

The American Gaming Association released a report on gambling revenue at the nation’s casinos during the third quarter of this year — the time when most casinos reopened after four months or more of being shuttered during the first wave of the virus outbreak.

It found that the industry won over $9 billion in the third quarter of this year, which is 81% of the amount it won during the same period a year earlier, when there was no virus and casinos were operating normally. Virtually all casinos in the U.S. are operating with some restrictions on the amount of people they can accommodate and the type of operations they can conduct amid the pandemic.

The report found that nationwide gambling revenue is down 36.5% in the first nine months of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.

“Our industry continues to prioritize the health and safety of our employees, customers, and communities above all else,” said Bill Miller, the association’s president and CEO. “While these quarterly results are promising, the reality is a full recovery is dependent on continued public health measures to control prevalence rates” of the virus.

Jacqueline Grace, president of Atlantic City’s Tropicana casino, said she is not surprised the industry regained as much of its previous revenue as it did in the third quarter.

“People are looking for opportunities to escape what is happening around us,” she said. “Coming to a casino is entertainment, and people still want to be entertained.”

Grace said one of the biggest challenges the industry is facing is “the continued uncertainty.”

“You have to ensure compliance, whether it’s your team members or your customers,” she said. “That’s a new aspect of the job.”

In a recent conference call to discuss third-quarter earnings, Bill Hornbuckle, president and CEO of MGM Resorts International, said the industry continues to deal with the pandemic, and has been forced to abide by restrictions.

But he also said September “was an exceptional booking month for the future. It’s the best booking months we’ve had in seven. And so I think the tell is is that people are still booking into the future.”

The report said more than 100 casinos reopened between July and September with 902 commercial and tribal casinos operational by the end of the third quarter.

Five states actually won more in the third quarter this year than they did in the same period last year: Arkansas, up 3%; Mississippi, up 2.8%; Ohio, up 7.5%; Pennsylvania, up 3.8%; and South Dakota, up 6.1%.

Revenue from slot machines was $5.87 billion for the quarter, down 19.3%, and table games revenue was $1.57 billion, down 31.2%.

Atlantic City Nj Casino News 2020

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