Gov. Murphy says casinos in Atlantic City can reopen on Thursday, July 2nd.

The news came via Twitter from the governor just after 11:00 Monday morning.

In addition to casinos, Murphy also says indoor dining limited to 25 percent capacity can also restart just before the 4th of July holiday weekend.

News of casinos reopening comes just days after Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small signed an executive order allowing open containers of alcohol on the Boardwalk. During the peak of the pandemic, Atlantic City was one of just a small number of shore towns to keep both its Boardwalk and beach open without restrictions.

Casinos in Atlantic City closed on the night of March 16th as the coronavirus pandemic began to spread across our region. The closures resulted in tens of thousands of casino workers becoming unemployed with massive traffic jams surrounding food distribution events for workers. Drone footage was recorded during the shutdown which showed eerily empty streets in a normally-hectic gambling town.

As other businesses started to reopen across New Jersey, casinos in Atlantic City began to formulate plans on how they would handle reopening once they were given a green light from Murphy.

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