June 4 was a critical day for the history of casinos in Nevada, as they finally got to open their doors to visitors after a several-month break caused by the coronavirus lockdown. A state-wide shutdown of all non-essential businesses was ordered back in March by Gov. Steve Sisolak when all casinos in Las Vegas had to shut their doors to visitors for the first time in history.
However, Nevada began gradually reopening, and the Nevada Gaming Control Board issued clear guidelines for casinos and casino visitors that must be respected. The guidelines were designed with social distancing in mind, and casinos did all they could to ensure safe gaming inside them.
All casinos had to submit a detailed reopening plan that would be in line with the NGCB guidelines. However, it seems that the reality is completely different in the Entertainment Capital of the World. Although casinos and staff are doing their best to respect the guidelines, it seems that visitors don’t really care about social distancing and curbing the spread.
Crowds Rush Into Casinos
Mick Ackers, the reporter for Las Vegas Review-Journal, released a video on his Twitter account that shocked many people on the social network. The video is taken on the gaming floor of The D, which is a popular casino located in downtown Las Vegas. In it, you can see a lot of people on the casino floor not respecting any social distancing guidelines.
Although the dealers and dancers wear masks, many visitors don’t have a mask at all. Customers were asked to respect social distancing while playing slots, but it seems that they didn’t care about this either, as pictures published by Mick Akers show every slot being occupied.
On the other hand, Akers tweeted pictures of the staff regularly cleaning slots seating and all the other surfaces. Apart from The D, the other casino where social distancing violations were recorded was the Fremont Hotel & Casino, and reporters couldn’t reach spokespeople of both casinos.
Therefore, one thing is pretty clear, judging by the number of visitors on the first day of the reopening — Las Vegas is coming back to life. Although operators feared that they wouldn’t be able to attract many people, a lot of casino lovers came flocking in to play some of their favorite casino games.
Yet, it’s difficult to say whether this would happen during the initial period of reopening only. One of the possible scenarios is that the number of visitors will be low in the upcoming period as people are still afraid of the COVID-19.
However, there’s a more positive perspective: people love Vegas too much not to go there. The only issue is — will they be able to respect the social distancing guidelines in the future or not? The start doesn’t look promising, so we might even expect some kind of response from the Nevada Gaming Control Board in the future.
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