Atlantic City casinos may be ready to reopen by Thursday

The dozen Atlantic City casinos, shuddered since 4 p.m. Sunday, sustained little physical damage from Hurricane Sandy, but could take until Thursday to reopen because of the infrastructure damage in and around them, said the head of the Casino Association of New Jersey.

"No decision has yet been made since there is still a state of emergency, a state evacuation order and a curfew in place," Tony Rodio, president of the CANJ - which represents the dozen Atlantic City casinos - said Tuesday after a 3:30 p.m. conference call among casino executives and the head of the state Division of Gaming Enforcement.

"Damage to the casino properties was nothing major. You had minor things and debris," said Rodio, who is also chief executive officer of the Tropicana Casino Resort. "Atlantic City, all things considered, fared fairly well when put in context of the communities that were really hit that are north and south of us."

Rodio said even the piece of the Boardwalk that was completely toppled was "near the Inlet area and nowhere near the casinos."

"Our bigger concern is the infrastructure damage in and around the casinos that will make it hard on customers going in and out," he said.

Rodio cited water-filled access roads and poles and signage that were down, among other things, that will impede travel in and out of the casinos.

"Emergency crews are out assessing the damage," said Rodio, "so we're trying to keep the number of vehicles on the roads to a minimum so they can do their job."

Joe Lupo, executive vice president of operations for the Borgata, said the Borgata suffered minimal damage, albeit a few broken windows.

"We are ready to reopen as soon as we get the word," Lupo said. "The key will be getting all of our employees back to work. It will be a process."

Gov. Christie ordered the suspension of all gaming activity in Atlantic City by 3 p.m. last Sunday and ordered all 12 casinos to close by 4 p.m. that day.

The major arteries leading to the seaside resort - the Atlantic City Expressway and the Garden State Parkway, were closed Sunday. Both were reopened Tuesday afternoon.

Rodio estimated earlier that the financial hit to the 12 Shore casinos - already reeling from gambling competition from Pennsylvania and other nearby states - would be about $5 million collectively per day they were closed. But he seemed to back away from making any financial predictions on Tuesday.

"At this time, it's really irrelevant," he said. "It's a one-time occurrence, whether it's four days or a week, it's not going to affect the long-term viability of our industry. Wall Street and investors understand that.

"Our concern right now is the health and welfare of our employees and customers," Rodio said.

However, gaming analyst Andrew Zarnett of Deutsche Bank AG, pointed, in an investor note, to the grim reality for Atlantic City. He said the hurricane hit just as the dozen casinos were heading into their slowest time of the year, and that seven-month old Revel was already struggling. The $2.4 billion Revel has failed to clear the $20-million mark in monthly gaming revenue since opening April 2, generating about half of what Wall Street had anticipated.

"While a hurricane isn't an ideal situation for anybody," Zarnett said in the note, "this is especially bad for Atlantic City, which has been struggling with the negative impact from competition and additional supply in the northeast."

In August 2011 the A.C. casinos closed for three days as a result of Hurricane Irene - which resulted in a 20 percent decline in gaming revenue from the previous year, or approximately $34 million, Zarnett wrote.

"Using the same assumption and factoring in the calendar (having one less weekend this month vs. October 2011), we estimate A.C. casinos, on a same-store basis (excluding Revel), will be down approximately 25 percent in October 2012."

Dennis Farrell, an analyst with Wells Fargo Securities L.L.C., added: "In our opinion, we likely will see modest operating losses mainly due to property closures from Sunday to potentially Wednesday or Thursday of this week. The larger issue, in our opinion, likely will be how long people within the region are engaged with residential property damage and loss of power."