Although it has been more than two weeks, the effects of Hurricane Sandy, which hit the New Jersey shore on October 29, continue to be felt in the Atlantic City casino industry and will impact the area for some time to come.

When the hurricane hit in late October, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie ordered the closure of the hotels and casinos along the shore for safety reasons. For the next five days, casinos like Harrah’s, Trump Taj Mahal, and Caesars lost approximately $5 million each day they were shuttered. Although the hotels and casinos reopened on November 2, the devastating effect of Hurricane Sandy had a significant impact.

The Atlantic City casinos and hotels themselves did not have major damage from the storm, but the surrounding areas were very hard hit. This forced many of the employees of the gaming industry in Atlantic City into several of the shelters in and around the city. Rationing of gasoline, which ended this week, has also had an impact on customers coming to the Jersey shore for tourism.

According to Bloomberg Businessweek’s Wayne Parry, the city’s 12 casinos are currently running significantly below capacity. Parry reported that revenues could be down 25% over the next six months and earnings could be down 40% to 50% over the same time frame. “I think it’s going to take a few months before we get back to normal because of the impact to the homes and businesses of our customers,” Parry quoted Tony Rodio, President of the Tropicana Casino and Resort, as saying about Sandy’s impact.

The downturn in business has led to many casinos making cost-cutting moves. Trump Entertainment Resorts, the owner of the Taj Mahal and the Trump Plaza, is forcing salaried employees to take a week of unpaid leave, cutting back hourly workers’ schedules, and not allowing employees to take vacation time for the five days the casino was closed. Parry reported that the moves would save the company approximately $10 million to $12 million.

Parry reported that Caesars Entertainment, which owns four of the 12 casinos in Atlantic City, is showing a markedly lower occupancy rate since Hurricane Sandy. Usually at this time of year, the Caesars outlets (Harrah’s, Caesars, Bally’s, and Showboat) have an 80% occupancy rate. Since the assault of Hurricane Sandy, however, the occupancy rate of the hotels has been around 60%, according to Don Marrandino, Eastern President of Caesars Entertainment.

It’s a double-whammy: the start of a slower season combined with a big impact to our feeder markets,” Marrandino stated to Parry. “But, we’re trying to be fair to our employees and to keep people working. We paid our employees for some of the days they were out.”

Hurricane Sandy also had an impact elsewhere. The inaugural event of the Pro Poker Championship, a $10,000 event that was supposed to have started on October 26, has been postponed until January. To demonstrate that the power of nature can’t keep poker players down, however, the Borgata Fall Poker Open began last Wednesday and has seen decent numbers for its preliminary events.

The outlook for Atlantic City may seem gloomy, but the recovery of the area is vital to the state of New Jersey, not only from a financial standpoint, but also from a psychological point of view. The 12 casinos that make up the Atlantic City franchise may have been hit hard but, as a Caesars billboard at the gates of the city says, “Nice try, Sandy… but we’re Jersey strong.”

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