Starting May 17, casinos in Las Vegas were cleared by state regulators to allow 100 percent occupancy on gaming floors, without social distancing and without masks for people who have received the Covid-19 vaccine.
The resumption of business-almost-as-usual followed the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) announcement saying those who have been vaccinated no longer need masks, indoors or out. On word from Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak, the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) ended mask mandates in casinos.
Unvaccinated customers and employees still need to wear masks, per the CDC, but no one’s bothering to check. “It’s not practical,” said NGCB Chairman Brin Gibson. Wynn Resorts said it “trusts guests to take appropriate precautions.”
According to the Reno Gazette-Journal, on May 1 Clark County officials gave casinos the all-clear to raise occupancy limits from 50 percent to 80 percent. Some casinos have no occupancy restrictions at all.
And now, all that pent-up demand is translating into business. According to Newsbreak.com, in March Vegas Strip gaming revenues topped more than $500 million for the first time since February 2020. Several analysts project that April’s gaming revenues will be just as impressive. And importantly for Las Vegas, conventions are also on the rebound.
In 2019, a record 6.65 million convention delegates visited Las Vegas, accounting for more than 15 percent of the market’s 42.5 million visitors for the year. Of course, in 2020 the convention and trade show business was decimated by Covid-19, but now, the shows are returning. The Las Vegas Convention Center welcomed back conventioneers May 12-14, with the Tobacco Plus Expo. Other conventions including G2E are also gearing up to return.
“The upcoming calendar for meetings and convention highlights the resiliency that Las Vegas has as a business destination,” said Brendan Bussmann, director of government affairs for Las Vegas-based Global Market Advisors. “While the market continues to rebound, this helps fill the midweek within the resorts across the city and especially the Strip. In addition to adding to gaming revenue, this will also help restaurants and other amenities recover that have been at capacity challenges over the last year.”
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, conventions are already booking for 2022, notably, CES, sponsored by the Washington-based Consumer Electronics Association, which will fill every convention hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Sands Expo and Convention Center and the Mandalay Bay Convention Center next January.
Other casinos with convention facilities, including those owned by Wynn Resorts, Caesars, MGM Resorts and the Sands Corp. are booking up too.
“As we continue to recover from the Great Shutdown, it’s good to see the return of many shows that unfortunately had to cancel last year because of the pandemic,” said Bussmann. “Q3 and Q4 look solid this year as we head into CES to kick off 2022 in what appears to be a solid schedule moving forward.”
Commission Chairwoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick warned that, despite the relaxation of Covid safety protocols, “We do still have to stay on top of this because nobody wants to go backwards.” She told News 3 in Las Vegas,
“The pandemic is by far not over, but this is at least getting us back to normal so that we can maintain some normalcy and continue to be responsible.”
And Dr. Fermin Leguen, chief health officer for the Southern Nevada Health District said monitoring the virus is “going to be a long-term effort.”
Also in Vegas, most poker rooms and tables at casinos in Las Vegas have removed the Plexiglas dividers that were installed between player positions during the most active part of the Covid-19 outbreak. Customers may now play face to face at the Wynn, the Encore, and all Caesars and MGM properties.
As of last week, a few resorts has retained the dividers—the Venetian, Golden Nugget and Orleans—but all of them are expected to be absent at the World Series of Poker this fall.
On May 13, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that it no longer recommends masks or social distancing for people who have been vaccinated. Masks are only required by unvaccinated patrons of Nevada casinos, but few casinos require vaccination proof from unmasked customers.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that poker resumed in Las Vegas in June 2020 with four players at each table under social distancing guidelines. Then five-handed and six-handed games began. “Eventually, regulators allowed rooms to offer eight-handed games with dividers, and that remained the standard until this week,” the newspaper reported.
The Wynn is playing nine-handed, and the Orleans said it would go to nine-handed for tournaments while sticking with eight-handed for cash games.
“Thank you all for your patience and understanding over this last year,” the Orleans poker room posted on Twitter.
