Casinos throughout Nevada, including those on the Las Vegas Strip, will have to limit their capacity to 25% starting Tuesday after Gov. Steve Sisolak said the state’s COVID-19 cases had escalated to “wildfire levels” and the state had entered a “red zone.”
In a late Sunday afternoon press conference, Sisolak said Nevada would enter a three-week statewide pause, that would include a mandatory requirement that all Nevadans and visitors wear a mask or facial covering at all times and that capacity levels at all businesses and gathering areas be reduced from the current 50% to 25%.
“I am not issuing a shutdown order,” Sisolak said. “My goal is to aggressively try to attack this spread while maintaining some portion of our economy and our daily life.”
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak at a press conference in early November
In addition to casinos, capacity will be at 25% for restaurants and bars throughout the state, including restaurants and bars inside casinos. Reservations for restaurants are required, and no more than four patrons can be seated at one table.
“I can assure you that the full force of the Nevada Gaming Control Board will be behind the implementation and the enforcement of these 25% requirements,” Sisolak said when asked how the state would enforce the requirements.
The increased restrictions and mitigation efforts come less than two weeks after Sisolak implored state residents to stay home as much as possible because of climbing COVID-19 cases. He warned then of the possibility of implementing stronger mitigation efforts if a downward trend did not happen.
However, coronavirus cases and hospitalizations have spiked across Nevada. The state reported more than 2,000 new COVID-19 cases four times in the past nine days, including 2,155 on Sunday and 2,019 on Saturday. Hospitalizations and death rates have also grown.
With the resort industry accepting reservations for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, casinos on the Strip will have to adapt to the new rules before guests arrive.
Sisolak said the challenge was balancing “the significant ramifications that further restrictions will have on our suffering economy. No state struggles with this more than Nevada due to the lack of diversity in our economy.”
Limits inside casinos
Following the press conference, the governor’s press office emailed that restaurants with large parties for Thanksgiving will need to break the parties up into no more than four at a table or consider takeout options for meals.
Gaming Control Board Chairman Brin Gibson said following the governor’s remarks that casinos utilize surveillance systems and accounting systems that calculate how many slot machines are being played and how many patrons are on a casino floor.
“I’m not overly concerned with the ability of most operators to make the assessment,” Gibson said of casinos limiting their occupancy. “The Board will vigorously enforce the Governor’s newly announced gaming floor occupancy restrictions among gaming licensees and asks for the industry’s assistance. The more successfully Nevada mitigates the current spread of COVID over the next several weeks, the more likely we are to experience a complete return to current gaming floor occupancy percentages at that point.”
Nevada Resort Association President Virginia Valentine said in a statement that the governor gave his decision “careful and thoughtful consideration” based on the advice of the medical community, emergency management officials, and his COVID-19 task force.
“We understand the governor’s actions seek to balance the best interests of public health with the ongoing economic impacts,” said Valentine. “Like every state in the nation, Nevada faces a grim future if the virus’ spread is not contained and reversed quickly. As the resort industry does its part to adhere to this directive, we strongly urge the public to join us by following recommended practices and behaviors.”
Avoiding another shutdown
Sisolak warned that if the mitigation efforts are not taken seriously, or the situation worsens and begins to seriously threaten the state’s healthcare infrastructure, “I will be forced to intervene and to take stronger action.”
On March 18, Sisolak shut down gaming in Nevada for 78 days in response to the initial growth of the pandemic. In July, he closed standalone bars and bars inside taverns and restaurants to slow a COVID-19 spike. The closures silenced a large portion of Nevada’s lucrative restricted gaming business – those locations with 15 or fewer slot machines. Grocery stores, convenience stores, and drug stores which also have restricted gaming slot machines were not affected.
Nevada has 2,451 restricted gaming locations, operating some 17,600 slot machines. Clark County alone accounts for more than 1,600 of the restricted gaming businesses with more than 13,200 slot machines, according to the Gaming Control Board.
Casinos reopened on June 4 and have since been operating under COVID-19 guidelines covering health, safety, cleaning, and capacity limitations.
But the pandemic has continued to weigh down the Southern Nevada tourism industry. Through September, gaming revenues on the Strip were down 45%, the market’s visitation was off 55%, and airline passenger volume at McCarran International Airport dipped 56.5%.
Protocols on mass gathering forced the cancellation of the annual National Finals Rodeo in December, which is the largest visitation event to Las Vegas during the month. The NFR moved to Dallas for this year.
Casinos reducing capacity
Strip resorts have reduced amenities during the middle of the week as the market continues to see visitation levels decline due to the resurgent pandemic.
On Friday MGM Resorts International announced that it would close hotel operations at Mandalay Bay and The Mirage on Mondays through Thursdays, starting on Nov. 30 – following the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Restaurants and other amenities will remain open at the properties throughout the week.
MGM had already limited the operations at Park MGM to just weekends, following a similar trend started by Las Vegas Sands, which has closed the Palazzo from Monday through Thursday, and Wynn Resorts, which has imposed similar limitations on Encore.
Caesars Entertainment announced plans to reopen the Rio resort in late December, but only for weekend occupancy.
Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming Reports. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgaming.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.
