Nevada’s 30-day casino shutdown is set to end April 16, and some Las Vegas properties are accepting bookings just days after.
Casinos & Gaming
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With casinos across the country temporarily shut down during the coronavirus crisis, operators are facing a period with zero income and a limited supply of cash.
About 206,000 direct casino employees in Nevada are without work after Gov. Steve Sisolak’s Tuesday mandate, according to the American Gaming Association.
Hotel-casino employees worked toward complying with Gov. Steve Sisolak’s move to close all nonessential Nevada businesses for 30 days in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Throughout Las Vegas, businesses deemed nonessential were preparing Wednesday to shut their doors by noon to comply with an order from Gov. Steve Sisolak.
For at least the next 30 days, casinos on the Las Vegas Strip and across Nevada will sit empty. No tourists. No jackpots. No entertainment. No buffets.
St. Patrick’s Day revelers at Rock & Reilly’s pub watched Gov. Steve Sisolak’s news conference announcing the 30-day closure of casinos and other nonessential business. After the conference, REM’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know it” played at the pub.
Sisolak’s order follows the issuance of executive orders and gaming regulatory decisions to close properties in six other states that offer casino gambling.
Visitors depart hours ahead of scheduled shutdowns of the scheduled closures of the Strip megaresorts for several weeks — at least.
MGM Resorts International is closing its resorts in Las Vegas effective today.
Employees will continue to receive benefits and pay during the closure, which is set to last through at least March 31.
The line at the unemployment office on West Charleston Boulevard stretched out the front door Monday morning, filled with workers who had recently suffered from layoffs spurred by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Guests at MGM Resorts International properties described receiving a letter in their rooms informing them that they had to check out by Tuesday.
Documentation obtained by the Review-Journal shows Caesars Entertainment Corp. has begun laying off employees “due to unforeseeable, unexpected and sudden reduced business levels as a result of COVID-19.”
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak on Sunday ordered fewer people at table games in the casinos still operating.
