What Caused Golden Nugget Atlantic City to Evacuate Casino Floor?

Golden Nugget Atlantic City is back up and running after abruptly evacuating the casino floor on Thursday, Oct. 8.

Located in Atlantic City’s Marina District, Golden Nugget was the subject of social media reports around 1:15 p.m. EDT on Oct. 8 indicating that its casino floor had been cleared. Atlantic County Scanner News, a public safety incident monitoring page, first reported the evacuation.

The monitoring group later detailed that an IT failure involving the casino’s surveillance system likely caused the operational shutdown.

Surveillance System Disruption

Atlantic County Scanner News reported that Golden Nugget security issued an all-hands alert at approximately 11:30 a.m., directing off-duty guards to report to the floor immediately.

Security personnel were stationed near cash cages, while floor managers initiated pit checks. As it became clear the IT issue could not be immediately resolved, staff began powering down slot machines and redemption kiosks around 12:40 p.m. Shortly after 1:00 p.m., security cordoned off the gaming floor and began escorting patrons from the building.

The Golden Nugget casino remained offline for about two hours before the issue was fixed and electronic machines were powered back on.

It is suspected that the casino’s camera feed, the so-called “eye in the sky,” went offline for an unknown reason. Under the New Jersey Casino Control Act, Atlantic City casinos are required to operate a closed-circuit camera system.

The camera network, at a minimum, must surveil the casino’s entry and exit points, count rooms, cages, redemption kiosks, slot machines, table games, and any other “critical location” essential to the casino’s operation. The casino’s security department is also monitored, and the casino must keep a surveillance log of all activities conducted.

The DGE has “unfettered” access to each casino’s camera feed, recordings, and photographs. The state requires casinos to have an emergency power system to operate the surveillance system in the event of a power failure. The backup system is to be tested every 12 months.

Casino.org asked the DGE to confirm that issues with the camera feed caused the Golden Nugget casino incident but did not immediately hear back.

Financial Context & Ownership

Billionaire Tilman Fertitta, who owns the Golden Nugget, has a deal in place to acquire Caesars Entertainment and its three casinos in Atlantic City. If the DGE forces the combined group to sell off a property to ease monopoly concerns, Golden Nugget could be a front-runner.

Through August, Golden Nugget generated gross gaming revenue (GGR) of $90 million from its physical slots and table games. That’s only higher than Bally’s ($89.6 million) among the nine casinos in Atlantic City.

Through the year’s first two quarters, Golden Nugget posted an operating profit of just $1.1 million. That ranked last among the nine properties.