Just outside the Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, a group of cab drivers was standing around with their cars parked three-wide, as if they were at the starting line for a NASCAR race.

But these drivers weren’t going anywhere. On any other night in New Jersey’s gambling mecca, they’d be picking up guests and casino patrons. But not tonight.

Instead, a metal fence blocked the entrance to the now-empty casino and resort, after Gov. Phil Murphy’s declaration earlier on Monday that all casinos, restaurants and bars would close in an attempt to control the increasing coronavirus pandemic in the Garden State.

“If we do not work for 15 days, I do not think we can pay the rent,” one taxi driver said. He’s one of nearly 200 cab drivers in the city now wondering how they will make a living in the coming weeks, if not months.

“Those workers in there," one driver said, referring to the casino and hospitality workers, "they all can file for unemployment and all these benefits, but we do not have anything. We would request the government to help us out in some way because we have to pay the insurance for our cars, and I do not think the owners will forgive the lease and insurance. We do not have any unemployment and no way to help our families.”

The taxi drivers are not the only ones affected by the unprecedented, unforeseen mass closures in the city.

A sign announces the closure of Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, Monday night, March 16, 2020. Gov. Phil Murphy ordered casinos, movie theaters and gyms to close indefinitely, beginning 8 p.m., to help fight the spread of the coronavirus, but Resorts closed to the public at 6 p.m. Lori M. Nichols | NJ Advance Media for NJ.comLori M. Nichols | NJ Advance Med

The clock ticked toward the new 8 p.m. statewide curfew on Monday and ironically, The Band’s “Atlantic City” was playing through the boardwalk speakers, with the familiar lyrics “meet me tonight in Atlantic City.” Now, as security guards, dealers, slot attendants, and other workers walked outside their workplaces for the last time for the foreseeable future, a kind of sorrow began to fill the cold, windy beach night.

Inside the Tropicana Atlantic City just an hour earlier The Marketplace area that is filled with restaurants was barren, save for the one person in the corner who was taking a break from walking around. Supervisors and workers were in little groups, standing around, waiting. The slot machines all read out of order or disabled.

Nearby, a Tropicana worker overlooked the emptying casino floor, scanning to see if any other people were coming in at the last minute to get one quick chance to strike it big, even though nothing was on. The employee was asked how they would get by with the temporary closure.

“I am not sure,” the worker said. “It is going to be tough. I do not know when we will get back in here. All we can do is pray that this goes quickly.”

Signs announce the closure of Tropicana Atlantic City, Monday night, March 16, 2020. Gov. Phil Murphy ordered casinos, movie theaters and gyms to close indefinitely, beginning 8 p.m., to help fight the spread of the coronavirus. Lori M. Nichols | NJ Advance Media for NJ.comLori M. Nichols | NJ Advance Med

The same tale was told up and down the boardwalk. In a restaurant near Boardwalk Hall, a worker is putting some items away before it closes. Looking at the time, it is 7:32 p.m., and not one customer was inside. The restaurant worker makes his greeting, but we begin to talk. Asked about his situation, he is one of the lucky workers who have some support, but he knows some of his co-workers may not have the same help.

“We have to do what we have to do,” the restaurant employee said. “I am fine. I still live with my parents, so it is not a huge impact for me, but I know for other people it is. We are doing all that we can because you have to do what you have to do.”

On Caesars’s casino floor, a security guard was quick to inform anyone entering that everything was closed — come back another time. A lot of the small shops had already closed, including t-shirts, and a few restaurants. Even a couple of the psychics — the ones who might be able to say when all this would end — had locked up.

By 9 p.m. on the boardwalk, the city was a ghost town. A rickshaw driver with an empty cart smiled and continued to push his covered vehicle. As the wheels seemingly clicked each of the boards, he slowly disappeared into the Atlantic City night.

A man pushes a rolling chair along an empty boardwalk in Atlantic City, Monday night, March 16, 2020. Gov. Phil Murphy ordered casinos, movie theaters and gyms to close indefinitely, beginning 8 p.m., to help fight the spread of the coronavirus. Lori M. Nichols | NJ Advance Media for NJ.comLori M. Nichols | NJ Advance Med

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Chris Franklin can be reached at cfranklin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @cfranklinnews or on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips. Lori M. Nichols may be reached at lnichols@njadvancemedia.com. Follow Lori on Instagram at @photog_lori and Twitter @photoglori. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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