There is now a plan in place from the Nevada Gaming Control Board to reopen Las Vegas casinos! All that’s needed is permission from Governor Steve Sisolak! But despite calls from Mayor Carolyn Goodman to open The Strip immediately based on economic reasons, the governor says that decision will be based on science.
Hello friends, and thanks for streaming another edition This Week in Gambling. Welcome to week seven of the global corona virus pandemic, where everyone is asking: When can we return to our normal lives? That is, if we can ever really get back to a normal life.
As a gambling program we’ve spent a lot of time talking about casino closures all across America, and especially when authorities will reopen Las Vegas casinos, and now the people in charge of that decision have made a statement… and that is this week’s big story.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board will be the ones who give the green light for casinos to open their doors. But that decision will only come after the governor has given the all-clear, so I caution you to not get excited just yet… Everything in Las Vegas is currently at a stop.
When the governor does say it’s okay to reopen the Gaming Control Board has an easy-to-follow 18 step plan that casinos must abide by. And instead of going over every element in the 18 steps, I’ll just list them on the screen and let you read them for yourselves. I’ve linked to the full list of requirements on the Gaming Control Board website, and you can find that link here.
As you can see, it’s sort of complex. In a nutshell, almost all of these guidelines deal with the operational aspects of casinos, not how to deal with the Covid-19 virus. In fact, numbers 1 through 16 deal specifically with cash on hand, customer payouts, security, audits and of course taxes!
Number 17 simply says that casinos must abide by all local, state and federal requirements when it comes to dealing with the Coronavirus because those are the people ultimately responsible for keeping you and me safe from communicable diseases!
So while we wait for word to come down from the governor’s mansion, at least casinos now have a blueprint – a plan in place – so that when that word does come down they have a roadmap to reopen. But what about all those things the mayor of Las Vegas said last week? We’ll discuss that when we come back from the break.
On our last show we spoke about comments from the mayor of Las Vegas who – virus be damned – believes that her city should be opened, now… before it dies. However, a week removed, some people are now chiming in and telling the mayor Yo! Slow your damn roll!
Obviously, the mayor is desperate to get the economy up and running again, and that is totally understandable. But pushing aside Public Health and Safety is not the way to go about it. Now the governor has something to say about that. He believes reopening Las Vegas, and the state for that matter, will be a slow and measured process. He says that the decision is not even up to the mayor, it’s up to the doctors and the science.
So, can we guests at a date when they will reopen Las Vegas casinos? Sure! But we’re probably going to be wrong! Some Vegas casinos had started taking May reservations at their hotels! And obviously, that ain’t gonna happen! Other properties believe that June or July was possible, but I think that’s still a little too optimistic. The Sands Corporation says an August reopen is what they are shooting for, and that’s a bit more realistic. Although, I still wouldn’t go making travel plans just yet. Stay healthy my friends
