Atlantic City Suddenly Casino-less
B.J. Novak, 56, from Philadelphia was trying to win back $1,200 he has already lost when Atlantic City's casinos were ordered to be shut down Wednesday morning. He is now worried that he won't be able to recover his losses.
"I've been here all night. I just left to get some food and came back but I guess I didn't make it," said a surprised Novak.
"I'm down about 1,200 bucks; now they're going to be closed for good so I'm not sure what I'm going to do," he said.
The casinos in Atlantic City are not allowed to operate unless state-appointed gaming inspectors are present to monitor the operations. Because of the budget impasse that the state of New Jersey is now facing, these inspectors are ordered to stay home because they belong under the category 'non-essential' employees, thus the closure.
Gov. Jon Corzine has no authority to spend state budget during this time in budget limbo, therefore having to withdraw unnecessary government services.
"It is deplorable that the people of this state are left in such a painful position," Corzine said in his speech Wednesday. "The people of New Jersey have every right to be angry."
Gary Clinton, a boardwalk busker aptly played the funeral call "Taps" on his trumpet.
"It's dead," he said. "People are leaving. No one is riding a bicycle or running on the boardwalk like they normally do."
July is usually the high time of the year, in fact the record gross revenue of casinos was tallied July of last year. Many of the gamblers who flock during summer are those who take advantage of the free bus tickets and subsidized meals that the casinos offer as promotions, and there are also those vacationers who hit the beach and gamble on the side.
"It definitely doesn't make any sense, because this is what brings in the money," said Cary Putzer, 51, a gambler from Queens, New York. An industry official said on Wednesday that the casinos could stand to potentially lose more or less $20 million in revenues, and New Jersey could lose some $1.3 million a day in state taxes.
"This is ridiculous," said Mary Ahmed, owner or a newsstand at the boardwalk. "This is a ghost town. Everyone went home," she said.
A few people were milling about the boardwalk as usual, but gone is the usual throng of crowd during this particularly busy time of the year.
"The most disappointing item is we have 15,000 people affected who are now earning a fraction of what they would be on a normal July weekday," said John Payne, Atlantic City regional president of Harrah's Harrah's Entertainment Inc.
Some enjoyed the relative peace that the shutdown brought. Lisa Smith, 39, from Nazareth, Pennsylvania, took her two-year-old son Sawyer for a walk in a stroller. "It's really good. We're here for just the boardwalk the beach and food," she said. "It's a much more wholesome vacation. The gamblers have all left."
Her mother Sue Karpowich however, who was walking with her, had mixed feelings. "My husband and I are sort of missing the gambling, but it's saving us money."
