Not ‘don’t do this, don’t do that.’”At the Hard Rock, every person who entered the building had their temperatures scanned by thermal imaging monitors.
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But gamblers showed up.ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Terril Tate left his house an hour before dawn on Thursday to be one of the first players at a craps table when the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino reopened at 6 a.m.He was hoping for a win, and maybe a date.
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Most spoke of simply needing a break from the monotony of the pandemic.“Just to clear my head — it’s relaxing,” said Rosetta Williams, 30, of Philadelphia. Tate said he was reveling in the newfound freedoms.“Just the freedom of doing what you want, when you want,” he said. By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Business Insider
His death was unrelated to Covid-19, she said, and any qualms she had about her own safety were outweighed by her need for a diversion.
“Just back to the normal.
“But we’ll get through it, and hopefully in a couple weeks we’ll be able to have more expanded offerings.”Still, he said the hotel expected to reach full occupancy by Friday night.The Hard Rock decided to book only 75 percent of its rooms.
Donald Kravitz/Getty Images But Mr. Tate, 41, said he was also on a mission to pave the way for people who don’t yet feel safe enough — he called them “worry bots” — to venture into indoor recreational and leisure spaces.“There’s got to be someone who goes into the fire first,” said Mr. Tate, a truck driver from Toms River, N.J. “Once enough people see it’s OK, they’ll come back.”As cases of the coronavirus surge in states that reopened earliest, New Jersey forged ahead Thursday with its plan to allow casinos in Atlantic City to begin operating for the first time since March 16.In the morning, workers vastly outnumbered bettors, but a mood of cautious celebration grew as the day wore on and long-dormant hotels began to fill with guests on the eve of a long holiday weekend.The reopening came several days after Gov.
Of the rooms available, 90 percent were filled on Thursday and it was sold out for the weekend, said Tanya Scalisi, a spokeswoman.Joe Arnashus has the following of a celebrity as the founder of Everything A.C. Casinos, the largest gambling-related Facebook group of its kind on the East Coast.He was invited to play the first ceremonial round of cards at Ocean Casino after a ribbon-cutting ceremony that featured dancers festooned in feathers and sequined face masks.He said the safety precautions necessitated by the pandemic were a temporary inconvenience.“We can live with it for a while,” Mr. Arnashus said.