It was not so much physical destruction - though there was that, too - but also the economic pain inflicted by the five-day mandatory shuttering of the casinos and their many restaurants. “It's excruciatingly difficult to do that.News out of Atlantic City, New Jersey, last week was pretty bleak with the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy. “Unfortunately for our team members, we had to re-lay off a fair amount of people,” said Baumann, the executive whose company owns Caesars, Bally's and Harrah's. Now, as few as 30% may go back because restaurant and beverage workers will not be needed. Bob McDevitt, president of the main casino workers' union here, said 60% of his union members had been scheduled to return to work this week. Statistics for May and June were similarly dire.Īnd many laid-off casino workers - including some who until Monday night expected to be back at work within days - will remain without a job. In April, the first full month the casinos were closed, Atlantic City's gambling revenue declined by nearly 69% compared with the same month a year earlier. The 3 1/2-month shutdown has been devastating to the casinos' finances, as well as those of the thousands of people who work in them. And when they stop at the first traffic light at the end of the Expressway, they’ll notice some stores in Atlantic City's outlet mall district that are still boarded up from a night of protests on May 31 over the death of George Floyd days earlier.

They'll drive past billboards on the Atlantic City Expressway advertising concerts by ‘70s pop acts that were never held. New Jersey shut down the casinos on March 16, and visitors returning to Atlantic City will notice some changes since then.

Atlantic city casinos still open