Caesars Atlantic City's regional president Steve Callender is retiring

Steve Callender, eastern regional president of Caesars Entertainment and president of the Casino Association of New Jersey, said Friday he is retiring after nearly 43 years in the business. The company has not named a successor.

Callender, 66, has been a longtime executive at Atlantic City’s Tropicana casino. He began his casino career as a craps dealer at Resorts casino on the day it opened in May 1978 as the only legal U.S. casino outside Nevada, as reported by the Associated Press. 

Callender learned the business from the bottom up, rising from dealer to become vice president of casino operations at Resorts. In a decades-long career spent in Atlantic City, he also worked for the Atlantic City Hilton and Bally’s in addition to Tropicana.

He most recently helped Eldorado Gaming carry out its merger with Caesars Entertainment under the Caesars brand. As president of the Casino Association of New Jersey, the trade group representing the Atlantic City casinos, he served as cheerleader-in-chief, a strategist for policies that help the resort as a whole, as well as a go-to contact with state officials on matters involving Atlantic City and the gambling industry.

The casino industry veteran has been a vocal champion of Atlantic City’s health and safety protocols as the casinos reopened last July after three and a half months of being closed due to the coronavirus shutdown. And he has repeatedly pushed state officials to loosen the virus-related restrictions on occupancy that remain on the casinos, arguing that the gambling halls have demonstrated they can operate safely.

Callender is optimistic about Atlantic City’s near and long-term prospects. “There’s so much pent-up demand,” he said. “Many of our older customers have gotten their shots, and they’re coming back. People will continue to come.”