Although a three-week near lock-down generated by rising Covid-19 numbers is in force, especially in Southern California, tribal casinos in that part of the Golden State remain open.
This despite rules that forced restaurants to close except for curbside sales, while text messages to restaurants urged as many who could stay home, to do so.
Pushing the nearly statewide lockdown are alarmingly low levels of hospital intensive care unit (ICU) bed availability in some counties, particularly Los Angeles County. Among the restrictions: Any kind of gathering is prohibited, supermarkets and grocery stores are limited to 35 percent capacity, bars, restaurants and salons have been shuttered. Church services may only be held outside.
As if expecting a possible pushback from Governor Gavin Newsom, one San Diego casino, Harrah’s Resort Southern California, issued letters to casino employees to carry around with them and produce for “Public Safety Officials” to show that they are “essential workers.” The letter, signed by Robert Livingston, the general manager of Harrah’s proclaims: “The holder of this document is an employee of Harrah’s Resort Southern California, which provides essential services as declared by the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians via Formal Resolution on December 2, 2020.”
Other Southern California casinos that remain open include the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians’ casino in Rancho Mirage, where restaurants were also operating; Morongo Casino Resort and Spa in Cabazon, where meal specials were being promoted; and Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, which continued to host live outdoor music.
Tribal casinos, operating on sovereign reservations, are not subject to Newsom’s restrictions.
December’s reactions by California tribal casinos to state health orders differ dramatically from March, when virtually all casinos were shuttered for several weeks and only slowly began reopening in June.
This time, Agua Caliente Rancho Mirage is hosting outdoor conference events and meetings. Photos of a recent gathering showed many attendees not wearing masks.
The tribe also opened its third casino in Cathedral City, the day before Thanksgiving.
Fantasy Springs Casino, operated by the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, is offering live musical performances almost nightly, although social distancing and masks for all are enforced. Capacity is also limited.
Ironically, the casino is using the same space for Covid-19 testing—which happens every week for each worker— and health protocol orientation.
Cabazon spokesman Michael Felci was probably speaking for many tribes when he told the Desert Sun, “The Cabazon Band of Mission Indians enjoys sovereignty, just like all tribes do. However, our guests, our employees are obviously the most important thing — their health, their safety. So we’re following the news, we’re getting the latest reports just like everybody else.”
In Riverside County, there have been six outbreaks of Covid casinos at five tribal casinos between June and November, said County spokesman Jose Arballo. The County lumps them all together, without singling out any specific casino.
Arballo said, “We also continue to communicate with tribal officials when it is requested about the best practices to help slow the spread of the coronavirus within their casinos and among the visitors and employees.”
Felci insists that Fantasy Springs has avoided Covid “clusters” by strict protocols of testing, enforced mask wearing, social distancing, temperature screenings and aggressive sanitizing and cleaning. They also moved all entertainment outside. This has resulted in “super low” numbers for casino employees testing positive, he said.
If an employee does test positive he or she must stay at home for about 14 days at full pay, and must test negative twice before being allowed on the property again.
The Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Barbara County, on the other hand, has closed three hotels because of the three-week shutdown order triggered when ICU availability plunged below 15 percent. The tribe kept the casino open.
The casino’s Willows restaurant will only accept takeout orders during the shutdown. Wine tasting has also been suspended.
The Wanaaha Casino in Bishop is also open, and the Bishop Paiute Tribe has reiterated that “all Tribal enterprises are essential services. The revenue generated by commercial operations such as the Casino is crucial to Council’s duty to provide services to the community through many community programs. Without the income from the Casino and other operations, many programs and services would go unfunded and could lead to serious issues for our most vulnerable Members.”
The tribe has modified the casino operations hours, however, and limited the casino restaurant’s hours of indoor and outdoor dining. It continues with what it describes as “extraordinary measures” of health and safety protocols.
