Atlantic City Casinos Reopening Monday After Hurricane Irene

Atlantic City casinos have been without revenue for two days, and that is enough to make anxious executives feel the pressure. Luckily, Hurricane Irene spared the gaming facilities in the city, which will reopen on Monday.

The casinos met with fire and safety officials on Friday afternoon to determine their course of action over the inclement weather that was on the way. The executives decided it was best to close the casinos, and sent customers heading for cover away from the ocean.

While all eleven of the casinos closed their gaming halls, some of the facilities kept open their hotels. The fear among some of the officials was that travelers who were booked for the hotels would not be able to find other shelter from the storm if the casino resorts ordered them out. The safety issue, however, outweighed those fears at several resorts.

Monday afternoon will be the official reopening day for the city's casinos. Over the weekend, since shutting down on Friday evening, the casinos have lost millions of dollars in potential earnings. The ringing of slot alarms and the shuffling of the cards will be welcomed back all across the city tomorrow.

Gaming regulators will have the final say as to which of the casinos open, and at what time. The casinos will have to go through a laundry list of approvals from regulators. The goal is to ensure that customers come back to the same, fair games, that they left when the casinos closed Friday. Regulators are attempting over the next two days to ensure the integrity of the industry.

The city's casinos have been struggling economically since the 2008 economic recession. The shut down caused by Hurricane Irene will only increase the amount of stress that gaming executives are feeling. In addition to the recession, increased competition from several Northeastern states has made it difficult for AC casinos to return to their glory days of the eighties and nineties.

The closure off all casinos in the city was only the third of its kind in the entire existence of the gaming industry in New Jersey. Only one other time was the closures tied to a hurricane. Much of the East Coast has felt the effects of Hurricane Irene since Thursday, with the storm clearing through on Sunday morning.

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