NEWS & NOTES

Finnish gambling monopoly Veikkaus could see up to 675 of its staff placed on furlough during the novel coronavirus crisis. The operator shut down all land-based operations on March 13 and began temporary layoffs on April 20. This will affect workers at its Casino Helsinki property and the Feel Vegas and Pelaamo arcade chains. •   Shooting Star Casino in Mahnomen, Minnesota has opened a drive-thru rapid testing site to help residents on the White Earth Reservation determine if they have the coronavirus. The site opened April 8, a spokeswoman said. • Last Monday, Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre Twp., Pennsylvania opened a testing site for symptomatic first responders, health care workers and residents 65 or older throughout the northeastern part of the state. Up to 200 people can be tested per day. • The F&B team at Barona Resort & Casino in Lakeside, California have been delivering truckloads of food to Lakeside School District and Meals on Wheels amid the Covid-19 pandemic — enough to feed 1,000 people a day. • Foxwoods Resort Casino and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation donated more than 22,000 pounds of food to a local food bank through a relationship with the United Way of Southeastern Connecticut. The food is expected to generate more than 18,350 meals for families in need. • The Squaxin Island Tribe, operators of Little Creek Resort Casino in Shelton, Washington, distributed packages of food to employees to help ease their expenses during the current health and economic crisis. • Workers at the Portuguese casinos Estoril, Lisbon and Póvoa de Varzim have been laid off, according to the Estoril Sol group, one of the country’s leading gaming operators. Casinos in Portugal have been closed since March 14. • Thirty Nevada airports will receive millions in collective aid from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act Airport Grant Program. McCarran International, serving Las Vegas, will receive $195 million. Reno-Tahoe International will get almost $31 million, and Boulder City Municipal Airport will receive $2.7 million. • A worker at the Circa construction site in Downtown Las Vegas recently tested positive for Covid-19, according to a statement from McCarthy Building Cos. The hotel-casino is being developed by D Las Vegas and Golden Gate owner Derek Stevens. • Grand Korea Leisure, which suspended operations of its casinos on March 24, will extended the closures to May 6 in light of lingering public health concerns surrounding Covid-19. Kangwon Land, Korea’s only casino open to the local people, will extend its own Covid-19 closure until May 4. • Two coronavirus testing sites will be made available in Atlantic City: a drive-thru testing site at Bader Field and a walk-up location in the Showboat Hotel Atlantic City surface parking lot. To date, 46 city residents have tested positive for Covid-19 and four people have died, according to officials. • The Japan Jockey Club has announced it will hold a fundraiser for those affected by Covid-19. It will donate JPY 1,000 (US$9.30) for every ride by every jockey in any Japan Racing Association race. Based on last year’s results, it could raise about US$437,000. • Solaire Resort & Casino in Manila has designed 14 Orange Care Cards with special messages of encouragement to uplift the spirits of the community in the battle against Covid-19. The virtual cards will be posted on Solaire’s social media channels with the company encouraging followers to forward them to people they care for. • Wynn Macau will grant each of its 13,600 employees a MOP$1,000 e-coupon to support the Macau government’s stimulus measures for local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). “Use it to support all the small and vitally important restaurants, shops and other SMEs in our community that are facing great difficulty right now,” said a company statement. • Employees of Rolling Hills Casino in Corning, California are manufacturing medical essential supplies to benefit local medical clinics. The team of volunteers manufactured face masks, face shields and protective gowns on April 10. The casino is owned by the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians. • UNITE HERE, the Las Vegas culinary union, has partnered with the United Food and Commercial Workers union to place furloughed members in temporary jobs in retail food sales, meat packing, food processing, textile plants, poultry processing and other workplaces. • The Casino Cosmopol subsidiary of Swedish gaming operator Svenska Spel will retrain furloughed staff retrain as healthcare workers during the novel coronavirus outbreak. Those who take the training will be offered temporary work in health care in the Swedish capital of Stockholm. • Finnish gaming operator Paf will pay out €40 million in dividends to “alleviate the negative effects of the coronavirus.” Paf saw a 4 percent increase in year-on-year profits for 2019, and will “generate the surplus for the benefit of society,” said Paf CEO Christer Fahlstedt. • Casino Del Sol in Tucson, Arizona, has charged its culinary staff with preparing and delivering lunches to about 2,000 frontline workers at local hospitals, police and fire departments. • The Pueblo of Pojoaque has opened the Buffalo Thunder Casino Hotel for Covid-19 patients as well as for testing. Precautions include taking employees’ temperatures at the entrance and fitting them with PPE. • South Point Casino in Las Vegas will furlough most of its employees “for an indefinite period” starting May 3. The company will maintain workers’ health benefits through July 31. • Donaco International Ltd. has extended the closure of its Aristo International Hotel in Lao Cai, Vietnam for at least one more week due to the Covid-19 outbreak. Donaco’s cash burn is estimated at $900,000 per month as its casinos in Vietnam and Cambodia remain closed.