AC casinos start shutting down as Irene looms

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Moments after Bill Wischuck put $20 into a slot machine early Friday morning at Resorts Casino Hotel, security officers came running over to him.

He hadn't won a jackpot; they were there to tell him to cash out at once because the casino was closing due to Hurricane Irene's approach.

"They all came running over saying, 'You gotta get out! We're shutting down!" said the 66-year-old retired crane operator from Coatesville, Md. "So we're getting out of town."

Resorts was the first of Atlantic City's 11 casinos to close, but it won't be the last. A formal decision on whether to shut down was expected to be reached at 2 p.m., but many of the gambling halls were making their own plans before that. The two Trump casinos, the Taj Mahal and Trump Plaza, plan to shut down at noon Saturday, said Robert Griffin, CEO of Trump Entertainment Resorts.

An employee at Caesars Atlantic City said workers were told the casino would be shutting down at 5 p.m. Friday, although casino management did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Tropicana Casino and Resort was declining new reservations, but remaining open on Friday to serve the guests who were already there, president Tony Rodio said. Crews there removed beach chairs and umbrellas from an outdoor storage shed Friday morning.

"We're taking every precaution we can to secure the building and remove anything loose from outside the building and the roof, but it's actually beautiful weather out right now," Rodio said.

The shutdown would mark only the third time in the 33-year history of legalized gambling in New Jersey that the casinos were closed. A hurricane also caused the first shutdown in 1985 when Hurricane Gloria threatened the coast before veering off to sea at the last minute. And in 2006, a state government shutdown forced the closure of the casinos for three days because state inspectors, deemed essential state employees, could not legally be paid.

Resorts boarded up all its ground-floor windows with plywood, and workers filled more than 400 sandbags, which were to be deployed around the foundation to protect against possible flooding from the powerful hurricane.

"We are closed and we're focused on trying to help everybody get back home," said Resorts co-owner Dennis Gomes. "If anybody comes in, we tell them the casino is closed and that we are shutting down."

Gomes estimated the lost weekend could cost his casino $3.5 million to $4 million in lost business.

"We got kicked out," said Livette Phillips of College Park, Md., as she dragged her rolling suitcase down the boardwalk. "We were OK last night, but at 5 o'clock this morning there was a notice under the door saying we had to get out. It's time to go, so we're going."

Wayne Parry can be reached at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC