LAS VEGAS -- After 78 days of historic quiet, it was time for cards to be cut, dice to roll and jackpots to jingle again at 12:01 a.m. today at casinos in Las Vegas and throughout Nevada.
Owners have big hopes for recovery from an unprecedented and expensive shutdown prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.
"There's a tremendous amount on the line, not only for casinos, but for the community and the state," said Alan Feldman, a longtime casino executive now a fellow at the International Gaming Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "This is an extremely important moment."
Casino resorts that had been famously always open were closed in mid-March -- idling Nevada's key tourism and hospitality industry nearly 89 years to the day since gambling was legalized in 1931. Gov. Steve Sisolak's emergency order closed nonessential businesses to prevent the spread of covid-19.
Now, property owners, state regulators and Sisolak, a Democrat who has been criticized for the closure, are balancing those concerns against the loss of billions of dollars a month in gambling revenue and almost half a million unemployed workers.
They are betting that safety measures -- disinfected dice; hand sanitizer and masks everywhere; limited numbers of players at tables; temperature checks at entrances to some resorts; touchless cellphone check-ins -- will lure tourists back.
They know it will look different.
"I'm optimistic that customers will see that gaming properties invested time and effort to welcome them back to a safe and entertaining environment," state Gaming Control Board chief Sandra Douglass Morgan said Wednesday.
The regulatory board required detailed health safety plans by last week, before giving the go-ahead to reopen.
Morgan didn't specify if any plans were rejected, saying agents "communicated concerns or asked for clarification" from an unspecified number of the state's 459 licensed casinos. The board also regulates nearly 2,000 bars, restaurants and convenience stores that have no more than 15 slot machines.
"This is going to be a pretty long, slow climb," said Feldman, who was with MGM Resorts when Las Vegas experienced an abrupt air travel stop after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, and later a crippling plunge in business during the recession over a decade ago.
Recovery took years -- reaching best-ever numbers in January and February: taxable casino winnings at $1 billion each month; unemployment at an all-time low of 3.6%.
By April, casino winnings were a fraction of 1% of a year earlier, and unemployment reached 28.2%, topping figures in any state even during the Great Depression.
"I'm hopeful it is a consistent climb, without setbacks," Feldman added, "better than a surge and then a setback."
The first visitors are expected to be area residents, then motorists from nearby U.S. states and then air travelers.
Business on 06/04/2020