Gambling expo returns, masked and vaccinated, to Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS (AP) – Casino industry executives and providers experiencing a resurgence in gambling after coronavirus closings are gathering in person in Las Vegas this week for an annual conference – amid strict coronavirus mask and vaccination rules – after being in front of almost one Year have met.

“We are very excited to be back here in Las Vegas,” said American Gaming Association chief Bill Miller on Tuesday as he greeted about 500 people in a ballroom. At the Global Gaming Expo at The Venetian Resort on the Las Vegas Strip, the chairs were spaced in groups of two, three, and four people.

“I mean, there’s nothing like meeting up again in person,” said Miller, calling four days with an extensive trade show, breakout meetings and keynote speeches “much better than a Zoom call (video conference).

“A year ago this hall was empty,” he said.

The event at The Venetian Expo Center has drawn up to 27,000 visitors in recent years. Gaming Association spokeswoman Allison Nielson said the latest visitor numbers won’t be announced until later this week.

Participants submitted proof of vaccination, many through the Clear Health Pass mobile app, and were given green armbands to show compliance.

Non-smoking advocates, in a separate event at the expo, highlighted achievements in persuading lawmakers in some states and tribal administrators across the country to make casinos smoke-free and outlining efforts to quit smoking in casinos in Nevada outlawed and back in New Jersey.

“Workers should never have to choose between a paycheck and their health,” said Cynthia Hallett, director of Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights.

In Nevada, casino giant MGM Resorts International reopened the renovated Park MGM Hotel, formerly Monte Carlo, as the first smoke-free event location on the Las Vegas Strip a year ago. Many hotels prohibit smoking in the rooms. However, casinos are exempt from public smoking bans under state law.

In New Jersey, Democratic Governor Phil Murphy allowed a temporary casino smoking ban, enacted amid pandemic rules, to expire in time for the July 4th holiday.

“I couldn’t believe the smoke came back after a year of fresh air,” LaMont White, an Atlantic City, New Jersey casino dealer for 36 years, told reporters in Las Vegas on Tuesday. He said lawmakers should think of pregnant casino employees who “are forced to feed their unborn child secondhand smoke every day for a living”.

“I think they see us as numbers on a bill or as a bottom line,” said White, “not as people with families who love us and are dependent on us.”

Nevada’s Governor Steve Sisolak, a Democrat who ordered the closure of Nevada casinos and most other businesses from mid-March to June 2020, and US MP Dina Titus, whose home district is the Las Vegas Strip, were the speakers for the morning who have favourited Nevada’s accelerating recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nevada casinos recorded more than $ 1 billion in house profits for the sixth consecutive month in August as gambling continued to return to pre-pandemic levels across the state, state regulators reported last week.

Tourism officials recorded nearly 3 million visitors during the month, 95% more than August 2020 but only 16% less than August 2019.

Nationally, Miller reported last month that April, May, and June casinos had their best second quarter in history, grossing $ 13.6 billion, and off the beaten track for their best year ever represent: $ 43.6 billion in 2019.

Titus, a Democrat, the longest-serving Nevada lawmaker in Washington and a member of the Congressional Gaming Caucus, noted that the closure of hotels and casinos in tourism-dependent Nevada drove the state’s unemployment rate to more than 30% in April 2020, the highest overall Country.

“We came back,” she said about a number that is now 7.7% but is still above the national average.

Titus also credits companies and casino owners who have required vaccination or regular COVID-19 tests from their employees to ensure tourists, gamblers and convention attendees can visit their hometown and stay healthy.

“If they come here, I think we really need to relax,” she said.