Case Bets

Unlike Las Vegas, casinos in Atlantic City aren’t being proactive in preparing for a mid-pandemic reopening. Ergo, the public sector is stepping into the void, in the form of state Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D, right). Gov. Phil Murphy (D) has admitted to being flummoxed by the reopening problem, saying, “Casinos are a tough nut. It’s indoors. There’s no ventilation. It’s close proximity, and [players are] largely sedentary.” To address this conundrum, Sweeney is husbanding a pair of bills through the Lege that would codify health and safety protocols when casinos reopen. Face masks on, hand sanitizer at the ready, other players kept at a distance. “In the casinos, there will be smaller gaming areas. Some slot games may be closed, and the stools removed in order to have distance between the gaming products, at least in the short term,” casino consultant Bob Ambrose told Global Gaming Business.

None of that sounds new to people who have been following events in Nevada but it seems to be pretty novel for the Garden State. Rigorous cleaning is to be enforced, including every gaming position between use. While Sweeney’s bills will bring a measure of rigor to reopening Atlantic City, he paradoxically frets that they may come too late, telling The Press of Atlantic City, “you have to be ready to reopen in a safe fashion and bring businesses and people back to work. Because without that, the back end of this is going to be worse.” And when will that be? July 4 perhaps? Says Ambrose, “Having worked in the industry myself, I know there’s a unique set of operational and regulatory challenges in the new post-virus environment.” Truer words were never spoken.

* Gambling can’t come back to Colorado soon enough for most players … which is hardly news. However, ColoradoSharp.com commissioned a poll to prove it. The sample is very small (read: unreliable), just 139 people. But they had strong views. Three quarters said they would return to casinos “as soon as they’re open.” (The same percentage claimed they would be wearing face masks.) Half said that social-distancing measures were “very important.” Only one survey respondent said he/she would never set foot in a casino again. 7% indicated they would wait a month, while 18% would wait “a few weeks.” (Probably a good idea, given the mad rush that will accompany reopening.) And if customers are reluctant? Free-play (50%) and comped rooms (30%) hold the most appeal. Don’t bother with free F&B offers: They polled in the single digits. And should Colorado evolve to online gambling? 67% said they would abstain from Internet casinos … although they’ll probably be singing a different song if they’re deprived of brick-and-mortar casinos again.

* Remember ‘dinner and a show’? Well, a new iteration of that could be making its way back, as a means of luring customers to pricey (but thinned-out) restaurants. New York City‘s Le Bernardin is taking the lead, according to the Wall Street Journal. “Eric Ripert, French-born chef whose signature dishes include one that pairs tuna carpaccio and foie gras, is considering taking center stage and doing some cooking in full view of the guests, sharing culinary tales along the way.” Ripert calls it “a little bit of Broadway.” That’s an approach that would go over well on the Las Vegas Strip, we think.

Other restaurants will up the greenery quotient, while our favorite response is that of Death or Glory in Florida, where—to enforce social distancing—seats are filled with inflatable animals and extraterrestrials. “We say our inflatable guests don’t care about social distancing,” says the restaurant’s co-owner. What patrons *don’t* want is “having dinner in a hospital cafeteria.” So expect to see tables occupied by stylishly dressed mannequins and by cardboard cutouts of people. They say you get used to it.