Capacity restrictions have been lifted in Las Vegas casinos as three of the city’s largest operators are back to 100 percent play. This is certainly big news for the casino industry as it appears to be recovering after more than a year of COVID-19 bans and restrictions.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board announced on Wednesday last week that social distancing and floor space restrictions were lifted for MGM Resorts, Caesars Entertainment and Station Casinos. This welcome waiver by the Gaming Control Board took effect immediately in more than two dozen casino hotels on the Las Vegas Strip. Since last summer, when the casinos were allowed to reopen, the game day capacity restrictions had been in effect.
On March 10, 2020, MGM Resorts announced that the company had discontinued its buffet service. The day after, other Las Vegas hotel casinos began canceling large events and stopped taking new reservations. A few days later, MGM closed all of its properties when the state of Nevada recorded its first COVID-19 death.
On May 26, Nevada State Governor Steve Sisolak announced that Vegas casinos should reopen in the first week of June. A week and two days after that announcement, on June 4th, the Las Vegas Valley casinos reopened almost three months after they originally closed. Restrictions on social distancing and gaming capacity were imposed and maintained until the turn of the year.
On March 1, almost a full year after the COVID-19 restrictions began, MGM Resorts and other properties on the Strip went into full operation. These properties still had to adhere to social distancing guidelines, which meant they could only be opened at 50% capacity. In the first few days of April, Las Vegas casinos began offering free vaccines to their employees after a memo from the Gaming Control Board found that the casinos had to vaccinate employees before they were back to 100 percent capacity.
It’s safe to say that the Nevada Gaming Control Board announced the lifting of social distancing restrictions in Vegas casinos as the percentage of employee vaccinations increased. In early May, the board of directors was authorized to review and determine the gaming capacities of casinos, on condition that the casinos made measurable and material efforts to vaccinate their workforce.
Aside from MGM, Station and Caesars, a few other casinos on the Strip have also been allowed to operate their gaming floors at optimal capacity, including the Strat Casino, Silverton, Cosmopolitan and Wynn Las Vegas.
However, the Gaming Control Board has ordered that these casinos can only operate at 100 percent gaming capacity after management confirmed that more than 80% of its employees have received COVID vaccinations. Casinos that meet this requirement are allowed to remove the plastic barriers to social distancing in slot machines and table games, although employees and customers are still required to wear masks. The board also announced that non-gaming areas of the resorts, such as pools and restaurants, will continue to be 80% occupied and will need to practice social distancing.
MGM Resorts CEO Bill Hornbuckle has no illusions about the role vaccination played in bringing gaming capacity back to 100 percent. “The lifting of COVID-19 restrictions is another major milestone in Vegas’ incredible recovery and testament to the importance of vaccination in efforts to fully reopen our community. We will work to vaccinate as many people as possible and keep health and safety protocols vigilant to protect our guests, staff and the community, ”he said.
At an obviously pivotal moment for the casino industry in search of normalization, three prominent casino operators on the Strip have received the green light to open their gaming days to maximum capacity without social distancing restrictions: the MGM Resorts casinos, Caesars entertainment casinos, and station casinos.
MGM resorts
According to Amanda Belarmino, assistant professor at the UNLV’s College of Hospitality, the full MGM is a real sign that things are finally getting back to normal on the Las Vegas Strip. “MGM is so well represented on the Strip that increasing the capacity of their properties is a signal that we’re really open again. The full return to the Strip signals a return to Las Vegas and offers experiences unlike any other destination in the world, ”she said.
MGM Resorts set up free vaccination clinics on its properties when thousands of third-party employees, families and animators were vaccinated. The company also launched a number of internal campaigns to raise awareness and incentives among employees about their vaccines.
The MGM properties whose gaming capacity is to be increased to 100 percent are:
Caesars Entertainment
Caesars made several COVID-19 vaccination events available on its properties to meet the vaccination requirements of the Gaming Control Board staff. The company’s CEO, Tom Reeg, promised they would not stop offering incentives and easy access to vaccines to their Las Vegas employees.
In a statement released Wednesday, Reegs said, “The expansion to full capacity and the elimination of social distancing from our Las Vegas gaming areas is the result of our team members’ dedication to doing their part to bring us all to the streets for recovery. This postponement is encouraging, but we understand that the battle is not won and an ongoing commitment to health and safety can help Las Vegas recover the fastest. “
The Caesars Entertainment properties, which are now operated 100 percent with gaming capacity, are:
Station casinos
At the beginning of April, Station Casinos opened vaccination centers in all of their Las Vegas properties. Between then and now, the company vaccinated an overwhelming percentage of its workforce. The company said vaccination efforts, reward and awareness programs will continue into the summer.
Three Station Casino properties have been closed since March 2020 when the Vegas casinos initially closed. These properties are Texas Station, Fiesta Rancho, and Fiesta Henderson, which are managed by Red Rock Resorts Inc., a publicly traded company that owns a portion of Station Casinos.
The Station Casino features that are now operating at full capacity are:
Non-casino spots in the properties listed above are still subject to 80% capacity restrictions and 3-foot social distancing rules. These areas include restaurants, gyms, and pools. Lawmakers in the Clark County area have agreed to approve 100 percent occupancy of these non-gaming areas once 60% of the county’s total eligible population (16 years and older) receive full COVID-19 vaccination shots. A week ago, that number was 47%, according to the Nevada Department of Health and the US Census Bureau.
In 2020, Las Vegas recorded the worst tourist numbers since 1989. According to official figures, the visitor volume in 2020 was 19.03 million, a massive 55.2% decrease from the 2019 volume. Those numbers have increased in 2021 thanks to the widespread adoption of vaccines and the relaxation of lockdown rules. In March alone, there were more than 2.2 million visitors to the Las Vegas Strip, which corresponds to a significant increase in visitor volume from 1.5 million in February.
For the first time since COVID-19 hit the US, gaming days in the Las Vegas Valley are back to full capacity, and there is no doubt that this positive update will spur tourism to the area. The world famous Vegas casino industry is now on its way back to normal.
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