MGM got its employees vaccinated With millions of COVID-19 vaccines getting administered every day in the United States, the pandemic statistics are moving in the right direction. Because of this, casinos have gradually been upping their customer capacities. Things are really starting to accelerate in Nevada, as MGM received permission from the Nevada Gaming Control… Read more »
Get ready to party on The Strip I have always enjoyed the times I have spent in Las Vegas (no drunken-blackout-lost-all-my-money disasters for me, fortunately), but I never really liked the crowds. An empty casino is depressing, but a jam-packed one, well, that’s not really my cup of tea. Give me somewhere in the middle.… Read more »
Capacity cut in half again As daily new cases of COVID-19, as well as hospitalizations and deaths resulting from the virus, continue skyrocket around the country, Nevada casinos are facing a new round of restrictions. Beginning a minute after midnight on Tuesday, casinos are required to drop their capacity limits from 50 percent to 25… Read more »
Last call comes early On Tuesday, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced new restrictions on casinos as the state and the country as a whole suffers through a massive new surge in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Per Executive Order No. 194, casinos will not be permitted to serve food or drinks from 10:00pm to… Read more »
Pandemic roller coaster The COVID-19 pandemic has obviously been devastating to casinos, but things are about to get worse for the few in Massachusetts. This week, Governor Charlie Baker announced a slew of “targeted measures” to slow the spread of the virus. The United States is in its “third wave” of the pandemic right now,… Read more »
PM not fooling around On Tuesday, United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a slate of stricter rules in the country’s ongoing fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, including a 10:00pm curfew for pubs, restaurants, and “hospitality venues.” Included in the latter category are casinos. Johnson said he understood the issues this will cause, “But now… Read more »
No mint juleps Following in the footsteps of most major sporting events, Churchill Downs has decided to hold the Kentucky Derby without fans in order to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. In March, when the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic was finally becoming realized in the United States, the Kentucky Derby was moved… Read more »
Decided the time was right And then there were nine. Atlantic City’s Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa announced on Tuesday that it will finally reopen on July 26. For the three days before that, it will host a “soft” reopening only for invited guests. Borgata is the last of Atlantic City’s casinos to reopen, permitted… Read more »
One Thursday, one Friday After being closed for nearly four months because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Maine’s two casinos will reopen this week. Oxford Casino will welcome back guests at 9:00am on Thursday, while Hollywood Casino Bangor will open its doors at noon on Friday. Naturally, as we have seen throughout the country, both casinos… Read more »
Casinos allegedly skirting pandemic regulations As COVID-19 cases rise dramatically across the United States, taking proper care to be clean and safe is of the utmost importance. The Culinary Local 226 union in Las Vegas does not believe some casino properties are being responsible in the face of the health crisis and have sued several… Read more »
No food, no dice Atlantic City casinos will reopen on July 2 after more than 100 days in timeout because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Borgata will not be one of them. After New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy reversed course and announced on Monday that indoor dining would not be allowed to restart, Borgata officials… Read more »
Time to start taking things seriously Caesars Entertainment is finally doing something it should have done before it reopened its first casino: it has made the waring of protective face masks mandatory for everyone who steps foot inside one of its properties. The company announced the policy change on Wednesday, June 24. It took effect… Read more »
At long last More than three months after closing because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Atlantic City casinos finally have a reopening date: July 2. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced the date on Twitter Monday afternoon. Murphy minced no words, saying, “If any visitor refuses to comply with our simple safeguards, they’ll be escorted out,”… Read more »
Pandemic has taken its toll Live poker has already taken a series of blows to the midsection during the COVID-19 pandemic, but even when more casinos open and poker begins its comeback, it will not fully recover. Genting Casinos has decided to discontinue its live poker operations in the United Kingdom. This is not a… Read more »
Breaking the seal Though the coronavirus pandemic has been a boon to online poker (silver lining of the crisis, I suppose), it has devasted live poker. For two months, there was no live poker anywhere in the United States, as some poker rooms have final begun reopening in recent weeks. But the few poker rooms… Read more »
Governor believes tribes are jumping the gun As casinos around the United States are starting to reopen after two months of closure, California Governor Gavin Newsom wants to some Native American tribes to reconsider. On Friday, he asked the tribes that operate three casinos to think twice about getting back to business. Most tribal casinos… Read more »
Poker during a pandemic is a bad idea We were all waiting for this shoe to drop. It felt inevitable. Caesars entertainment finally announced that the 2020 World Series of Poker has been postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally scheduled to begin just over a month from now on May 26th, the goal is… Read more »
