The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact casinos across the country in a major way. This week’s casino news focuses in on three different coronavirus stories as the casinos trend to fend off the virus.
Las Vegas Casinos Are Driving Coronavirus Spread
According to the latest news reports, casinos in Las Vegas have been one of the main factors in COVID-19 spreading. ProPublica did an investigation, examining the cell phone travel patterns and noticed that the device count on The Strip had doubled in June. Meanwhile, in May, the majority of devices were in the southwest region of the country.
Contact tracing is believed the be “one of the pillars of stopping the pandemic” and it is a process where government officials track down people who have been in contact with another person who has the virus. Once they do that, the person would be able to go, report who else they’ve been in contact with and help stop the spread.
However, if COVID-19 were to break out at a Vegas casino, there would be no way of targeting the cause of the outbreak which would make contact tracing a non-factor. Casinos have been a very big risk for spreading the virus but so far each of the properties have been complying with full safety regulations and operating at reduced capacity to help stop the spread.
Wisconsin Tribal Casinos Use Ultra-Violet Light Systems To Help Fight Against COVID-19
Sticking with the COVID-19 theme, Tribal casinos in Wisconsin have been using an unconventional approach to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Both Mole Lake casino and Lodge in Crandon have installed ultra-violet light system in their ventilation ducts to attempt to battle the virus before the air gets filtered back into the casino. We don’t know if this will work just yet as they’ve been closed since mid-March. They remain one of the few tribal properties in the country that have remained closed.
Recently, a report from USA Today had found that UV light killed 99.9% of seasonal coronaviruses in airbourne droplets. This report hasn’t just enlightened casinos either, as JetBlue had announced that they will also be using UV light technology as well to clean aircrafts after flights.
Massachusetts Gaming Regulators Decline on Resuming Craps, Roulette and Poker
Massachusetts gaming regulators have officially declined a request that would allow craps, roulette and poker to resume play. The request was recently made by two casinos: the Encore Boston Harbor and MGM Springfield. The regulators had met with representatives from the two casinos through a teleconference and the regulators had ultimately determined to decided to hold off for now.
Due to the current condition of the state from COVID-19, the regulators felt that this is not the right time to reopen those games because they seem to collect crowds. They also said that poker was declined because they are concerned that social distancing regulations will not be followed through in the poker rooms as well. The regulators did not state a specific timeline to when these games will resume.