It’s a sight that may soon be commonplace at blackjack tables and slot machines: protective plastic barriers, easy to install, completely transparent, designed to provide a protective screen for customers and casino staff in the Covid-19 era. The concept got its start in a casino that’s been a landmark for 80 years, in the town where legal gambling in America was born.
“These are crazy times,” said Adam Wiesberg, general manager of the El Cortez Hotel & Casino in Downtown Las Vegas, in an interview with GGB News. “So when the shutdown came, what all of us here were thinking about is when and how to get back in business.”
When Nevada gaming regulators issued their guidelines for social distancing once the industry reopens, Wiesberg had a brainstorm. He phoned a longtime vendor, James Swanson of Las Vegas-based Screaming Images. The graphic design firm has a client base that includes the leading names in Vegas gaming, along with a slew of NFL and NBA franchises and entertainment giants like Live Nation and AEG.
Like Wiesberg, Swanson was feeling his own pandemic pain. He’d had to furlough 24 workers. “Since all this stuff started,” he said, “our business just died. I was trying to come up with any idea I could to find some new revenue stream.”
Wiesberg approached him with the idea for a kind of shield, something visible but unobtrusive, with a measure of protection in accordance with the limited seating the Gaming Control Board was going to allow. It would offer some psychological value in the bargain, making folks feel comfortable with splitting their aces and eights again.
Swanson went out to the El Cortez on East Fremont Street, a popular rendezvous for locals and tourists alike whose core of loyal customers goes back decades.
Wiesberg presented Swanson with some rough drawings of what he had in mind. They walked the empty gaming floor, kicking around ideas.
“I wanted something very simple and intuitive,” said Wiesberg. “Maybe it’s not the most original idea, but I thought that if you have a kind of shield between you and the dealer and you and the other players, everybody feels a little more safe.”
Swanson brought a design team over. Within a day, he was back with a prototype. “Two or three prototypes later,” he said, “here we are.”
The barriers will be installed on five or six of the dozen or so tables Wiesberg expects to reopen with. They’re made from a standard see-through acrylic, the kind Screaming Images uses for any number of sign jobs. They feature curved shields between dealers and players with openings where bets and payouts can be passed, so there’s no customer contact with the cards. The individual shields between players extend from the front edge of the stool, past the rail to the betting circles. They provide plenty of room for each player to move freely.
“You don’t really feel like you’re in a bubble or something,” Swanson explained. “You can see clearly, can clearly hear everyone at the table.”
The partitions lock in place without bolts or screws, so there is no damage to the tables, and can be easily removed or refitted to accommodate either three or four seats.
And by virtue of the visibility they provide, they’ve already passed muster with El Cortez’s surveillance team. Moreover, since they were conceived from the start as a temporary measure, they won’t cost hard-pressed casino operators an arm and a leg.
A similar model has been designed for slot machines.
“We’re learning something every day,” Swanson said. “This is brand-new stuff. There’s been nothing like this before. So we’re making adjustments and changes as we go.”
Once the word got out to local media, it spread like brushfire. The New York Times, Washington Post and Forbes have come calling. Screaming Images is filling orders for casinos around the country, and fielding inquiries from as far as away as South Africa and the Philippines. The company’s plant near McCarran International Airport has set aside showroom space to exhibit the barriers. Business is booming again.
“It’s allowed me to bring 11 of my people back,” said Swanson. “That’s the best possible thing for me.”
For Wiesberg, the satisfaction is similar, and harkens back to the best traditions of old-time Las Vegas.
“The El Cortez was built by the local community for the local community,” he told GGB. “We’ll always do what’s best for our base, which is that community. “The No. 1 priority is safety—the safety of my customers, my safety, my employees’ safety. I’ve got employees who have been with us for 40 years. Our owners are here six days a week.
“As much as we want to open up, we want to be sure we do it safely. We’ve been here 80 years and hope to be here another 80.”
