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Updated 1:52 pm, Monday 25 June 2018
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) – People are winning and still losing money for the first time in years in two Atlantic City casinos that had been closed.
Monday marked the first day of so-called "soft play" at the Ocean Resort Casino and the Hard Rock. The test period is designed to see how the equipment and technology systems of the casinos operate before the large full openings for both facilities on Thursdays.
But winning and losing money was real. Ask Marian Simmons from Somers Point, New Jersey.
"I just stuck my card in the machine, and in the second round, I won $ 225," she said. "I am so happy!"
Lee Gentile, of Toms River, New Jersey, had a good deal of luck at first. In 15 minutes at a slot machine, she had won $ 400. As a journalist, she earned $ 50 more on her next turn.
"I should take this now and go home," she said. "But of course, I will not do it."
Both casinos invited friends and relatives of employees to be the first to play there during the test period which began Monday and was to last until Wednesday. The goal was to see if the slots were working properly, if the kiosks at the club were working and if the information technology was working as it should, with more mundane concerns like air conditioning, lighting and signs directional of the casino.
On Monday afternoon, no serious problems had arisen at any one or the other casino, said David Rebuck, director of the Games' Application Division. State.
Hard Rock would not allow journalists to watch their period of soft-play. But casino president Matt Harkness said things were working as planned on Monday.
"Everything is going well and the staff is really motivated," he said.
Hard Rock is the old Trump Taj Mahal casino, which has been stripped of its foundations and redone. Opened by Donald Trump in April 1990, the Taj Mahal closed on October 10, 2016, following a bitter strike in which then-owner Carl Icahn and the city's largest casino workers' union could not reach an agreement. retirement benefits to unionized workers.
Ocean Resort is the former Revel, the casino that lasted a little over two years before closing its doors on September 2, 2014. On Monday, it was the first time that members of the public were on the casino floor, reconfigured to make it easier to work around. His previous disposition was a major source of customer complaints.
"I like the way it's arranged," said Joyce Green of Vineland, who said she's playing at Revel once a week. "This is not confused now, at the time it was very confusing."
Green, too, was lucky at the start of his slot career, earning $ 300 in his first 15 minutes.
"It's calling, it's what could happen, but do not get used to it," she laughs.
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Follow Wayne Parry to http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC
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