Atlantic City Casinos Honor Jan. 27 as Holocaust Remembrance Day

Posted on: January 27, 2025, 10:40h. 

Last updated on: January 28, 2025, 11:03h.

The Atlantic City skyline will look a bit different on Monday night as several casino resorts pay their respects to International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Atlantic City casinos Holocaust Remembrance
Prisoners in barracks at the Buchenwald concentration camp. A handful of Atlantic City casinos will commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day today, Jan. 27, 2025. (Image: The National WWII Museum)

January 27 is a day of annual remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust, the genocide of two-thirds of the Jewish people in Europe that occurred during Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945.

January 27 was chosen as the day of reflection because it was the date that the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by the Red Army in 1945. It was Jan. 27, 1945, when Soviet troops arrived at the gates of Auschwitz where they found some 7K weak and emaciated prisoners.

Seven of the nine casinos in Atlantic City will tonight light up yellow, the color of the Star of David badges the Nazis forced Jewish people to wear during the Holocaust to identify them as Jews. Participating casinos include Bally’s, Caesars, Golden Nugget, Hard Rock, Resorts, Ocean, and Tropicana.

“During this light-up campaign, we would like to pay tribute to all the victims of the Holocaust and to ensure that the lives of those who survived the Holocaust are never forgotten,” said Moreno-Rodriguez, director of Stockton University’s Holocaust Resource Center. “By joining this campaign, Atlantic City casinos are physically reminding all of us of the importance of Holocaust education and the Center’s mission to commemorate the Holocaust and combat antisemitism and other forms of hate.”

The five casinos will adjust most of their exterior lighting to yellow at 6 p.m. 

New Jersey’s Jewish Population 

New Jersey is home to over 626K Jewish people, which ranks fourth behind only New York, California, and Florida. Almost seven out of 100 residents in the Garden State identify with the religion, which is the second-highest concentration level behind only New York at about nine in every 100 people.

While there is no explicit prohibition on gambling for Jewish people, most rabbis do not look at casinos positively and tend to encourage their people to avoid gambling. Of course, many still do.

The Casino Association of New Jersey (CANJ), the trade group that represents the gaming resorts’ interests in the Trenton capital, said it was “honored” to participate in International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Atlantic City’s casinos are so honored to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz,” said CANJ President Mark Giannantonio. “The casino industry is proud to light up our properties yellow in honor of the 11 million victims of the Holocaust, including six million Jews and 1.5 million children. We must always remember.”

Giannantonio is also president of Resorts and is an advisory board member of Stockton’s Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality, and Tourism (LIGHT) program.

Holocaust Yellow

Major landmarks in the Northeast will also light up yellow tonight to pay tribute to the Jewish lives lost 80 years ago. The Empire State Building in New York City will shine yellow, as will Niagara Falls and Philadelphia International Airport.

Atlantic City casinos not participating in Holocaust Remembrance include Borgata and Harrah’s.