A Year Later, B.C. Casinos Still Closed

Sun, Mar 14, 2021

It’s been a year since British Columbia’s casino operators were forced to close, including Hard Rock Vancouver (l.) in Coquitlam, by the Covid-19 pandemic. Even now, operators are unsure when they’ll be allowed to reopen again.

A Year Later, B.C. Casinos Still Closed

A year after the Covid-19 pandemic forced them to close—on March 16, 2020—the casino operators of British Columbia, Canada are still unsure when they will open again.

According to Stewart Groumoutis, director of eGaming operations with the BC Lottery Corp,, he is working with casino operators and WorkSafeBC to reopen. He told CDC Gaming Reports, “It’s a complex consideration for what that looks like for reopening. We are in constant contact, and we can say that the conversations are very positive. Everybody recognizes this is something we all collectively want to happen.”

Casinos have undergone extensive retrofits and moved slot machines to promote social distancing. Chances Gaming in Kelowna has spent $2 million the retrofits, realigned its gaming floor, while spacing out the slots six feet apart and turning off 50 machines and eliminating 400 bingo seats.

The casino also turned on an old ventilation system that can replace 4,500 cubic feet of air per minute with outside air six times an hour.

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