As casinos begin to reopen in the United States, more operators are updating their reopening time frames. In Pennsylvania, the Meadows Racetrack & Casino along with the Rivers Casino Pittsburgh will be reopening on June 9. This will be almost three months since the casinos in the state shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Ready to Go
Rivers Casino announced this week via the website of its parent company that they would start offering services again at 9am on the 9th. Guests will be allowed to visit the property from 9am to 4pm during the week. On the weekends, the casino will be open all night and then until 4am on Monday morning.
During the hours of closure, the casino will be deep cleaned to try and slow the spread of the coronavirus. They want to minimize the risk of staff and guests being exposed. Bill Keena, the General Manager of Rivers, stated yesterday that the casino has already worked on being in compliance with the state’s Gaming Control Board protocols for casinos to reopen.
Back in May, the regulator provided a large document that contained the minimum steps that casinos must take in order to get back to work. The casinos are only allowed to start offering services again if they are located in a county that is in the green phase. The plan created by Governor Tom Wolf has three phase, red, then yellow then green.
Meadows Facility Details
The Meadows will reopen on the 9th as well but a little later than the Rivers, at noon. The casino has been working with the board, state leaders as well as public health officials to ensure they are set with reopening protocols as well as taking all the health and safety precautions.
The property has plans to further share the details of what they are doing on-site before the reopening takes place. Casinos in the state are only allowed to provide 50% occupancy within their facility and require staff and visitors to wear face masks and practice social distancing.
Casinos must be cleaned on a regular basis and thoroughly. Hand sanitizer stations must always be placed at the entrance and throughout the gaming floor to ensure proper hand washing. On top of that, the casinos must also have measures in place to identify employees and guests who may have a fever or other symptoms. Such individuals are to be turned away and denied entry.
For Pennsylvania, social distancing measures will be put in place around slot machines and at the table games like blackjack and roulette. The game of poker will not be allowed just yet due to the need for players to hold their cards and handle poker chips.
We shall see next week if the two casinos are well-received by the public and if players in Pennsylvania are ready to get back to gaming. Only time will tell if the consumers in the region are ready to leave their homes and venture out for entertainment.
