Nevada’s Golden Entertainment has given employees two choices to keep working with the company: present proof of vaccination or present a negative Covid-19 test each week.
The company, with nine casinos in and 66 pubs and taverns, has watched as the pandemic surges in the state, though in August, Nevada passed the 50 percent mark for vaccinations for those 12 and older, according to CDC Gaming Reports.
MGM Resorts International became the first major U.S. casino operator to require its salaried employees to be vaccinated. Its mandate will apply to new hires as well. Salaried employees who don’t work from home must be vaccinated by October 15. The policy doesn’t affect hourly employees, but MGM said it was considering expanding the requirement.
Golden Entertainment President and Chief Financial Officer Charles Protell
said in a letter that while many properties and corporate functions “have made progress toward vaccination,” some have not.
Golden is hosting several vaccination clinics at both The Strat and Sierra Gold Jones in the upcoming weeks. The vaccinations are free and open to anyone in the employee’s family.
“Vaccination is the most effective method to slow the spread of Covid-19. Hopefully, we can all continue to do our part to maintain the health of our business and communities,” Protell said in the letter.
Casino consultant Josh Swissman, founder of the Strategy Organization, said he expects more casino operators to follow in the footsteps of MGM and Golden. “Beyond the gaming industry, this seems to be the trend,” Swissman said. “The fact that these new requirements are being put in place does become newsworthy. Customers see it and I’m sure that affects some folks’ travel patterns to go to places where they feel safer.”
New Orleans’ mandate requires customers of restaurants, casinos, stadiums, and other establishments be vaccinated or show a negative test. The Raiders this week required its fans to be vaccinated in order to enter Allegiant Stadium. Same with concert promoters for casino entertainment venues. Some trade shows are doing the same.
Tourism officials, who just debuted a national ad campaign soliciting sports fans, wonder how the requirement will play out. Lori Nelson-Kraft, senior vice president of communications for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said the same situation involved the convention industry. The Consumer Electronics Show, one of the largest, will insist attendees be vaccinated. Other conventions could follow suit.
“I think it’s a tremendous commitment by these private enterprises to make some of those really tough decisions,” Nelson-Kraft said. “It’s really important that our visitors, our employees, and our community feel safe during this time. Those are good responsible decisions. Could there be an impact? Of course. We won’t know until the back-end Allegiant hosts its first game in September on Monday Night Football and there are empty seats.”
Large convention bookings remain on track for this year and next. It will take conventions time to get back to normal attendance wise because many companies have not recovered completely.
Attendance is expected “to be a little lower for a while and everyone is okay with that,” Nelson-Kraft said. The most important step is simply returning to in-person events, rather than virtual.
“Our convention customers remain committed,” Nelson-Kraft said. “Nothing replaces being there and getting deals done and shaking hands. Since June, the city has 35 additional shows of 5,000 people or more committed.
The new ad touts not only the Raiders, but also the Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas Aces, NBA Summer League, NASCAR, National Finals Rodeo, UFC, championship boxing, college football, college basketball, and other events billed as the greatest arena on earth.
“We have really evolved into the capital of the sports world, with not only the venues, but the LVCVA heavily investing in bringing large citywide sporting events to town,” Nelson-Kraft said.
Las Vegas registered 2.97 million visitors in June, 70 percent of the June 2019 total. Hotel occupancy was 76 percent compared to nearly 92 percent in June 2019. The difference was weekday occupancy at 71 percent, down from 90 percent in June 2019.
