Regulators unanimously passed policies for both nonrestricted licensees — Strip, downtown and locals properties — and restricted licensees — those with 15 or fewer slot machines.
Richard N. Velotta
Assistant Business Editor
Email: rvelotta@reviewjournal.com
Phone: (702) 477-3893
X: @RickVelotta
Richard N. “Rick” Velotta has covered business, the gaming industry, tourism, transportation and aviation in Las Vegas for 25 years. A former reporter and editor with the Las Vegas Sun, the Ogden (Utah) Standard-Examiner, the Arizona Daily Sun in Flagstaff and the Aurora (Colo.) Sun, Velotta is a graduate of Northern Arizona University where he won the school’s top journalism honor. He became the Review-Journal's assistant business editor in September 2018.
After a record-breaking January and February performance, the company that operates the Tropicana and the M Resort suffered from COVID-19 fallout in March and furloughed 26,000 employees.
The Culinary union is asking the Nevada Gaming Commission to adopt its standards for health and cleanliness and wants casino reopening plans to be made public.
A casino formerly owned by Reno-based Peppermill Resorts and acquired by the owners of the nearby Emerald Island may be licensed when the Nevada Gaming Commission meets.
City, state and national tourism leaders cheered on the battered hospitality industry Tuesday, celebrating National Travel and Tourism Week on the Strip with a “red takeover.”
The furloughs of almost 63,000 MGM Resorts International employees soon could turn into layoffs.
The culinary union, the largest labor organization in Nevada, says the state Gaming Control Board’s guidelines for reopening casinos fall short of protecting workers.
While many people in the industry may not feel much like celebrating these days, the U.S. Travel Association and the LVCVA plan to do just that this week.
New guidelines for large and small casinos limit occupancy, detail social distancing requirements, limit the size of meetings and keep nightclubs and dayclubs closed.
The closure of borders into Macao from China and Hong Kong took a massive toll on the district’s 41 casinos with the worst gaming revenue decline in that market’s history.
Three casinos, two of them operated by Las Vegas companies, will keep their Massachusetts properties closed at least through May 18 following a unanimous vote Friday.
MGM’s Las Vegas Strip properties were among the worst hit, with a 21 percent dip in revenue compared to the 10 percent decline seen at regional properties.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority confirmed what most tourism leaders already knew: The coronavirus devastated visitation to the city in March.
With the state’s casinos ordered closed in March by Gov. Steve Sisolak, the industry knew it was going to see a huge win decline. As bad as it is, April’s win will be worse.
The state Gaming Control Board could limit the number of people inside a casino at one time, but it probably won’t mandate temperature detectors at entrances.