The push for a specific date on a Las Vegas reopen has begun! Some casino operators want to open their doors in May, but Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman wants it done yesterday! But what would happen if we had a Las Vegas reopen tomorrow? We also cover news from Tribal Gaming as they deal with the Coronavirus closures, and say ‘thank you’ to an unlikely person. Hello friends! And welcome to week six of this global lockdown, shelter-in-place, end of the world pandemic we’re calling the Coronavirus! And I must say, I’m a bit disappointed. I mean we were…

We knew that Tribal casino closures were taking a tremendous toll on people and the economy, and now we have the numbers. The Coronavirus has put nearly 300,000 people employed by Tribal gaming out of work at a cost of over $4 billion in lost revenue. Meister Economic Consulting stated that following just the two week full closure of tribal casinos that $4.4 billion was lost in economic activity. That figure includes $969 million in lost wages, and $631 million in lost taxes and revenue sharing received by federal, state, and local governments. The stoppage of business also directly impacted…

There is no doubt that people are tired of being locked in their homes, but will casino players be willing to storm the doors when Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Tribal gaming open up again? Maybe not. A recent study of over a hundred slot and table game players in New Jersey found that only one out of ten plan to return as soon as casinos open. Most of them plan to proceed with some degree of caution. One stated they were “…ready to head back to the casinos, but I plan to wait a few weeks after the re-openings…

How great is the danger to public health? Should Las Vegas reopen before it’s impossible to recover? The governor says things should stay closed, but the mayor believes it’s time to get Sin City up and running again. Carolyn Goodman, Las Vegas mayor, said that the non-essential business closures in the state are “total insanity” during a weekly City Council meeting. “I am asking: Open the city. Open Clark County. Open the state,” Goodman said. “For heaven’s sake, being closed is killing us already, and killing Las Vegas, our industry, our convention and tourism business that we have all worked…

We have a love-hate relationship with the owner and CEO of the Las Vegas Sands… and most of the time it’s more ‘hate’. But during this pandemic crisis we must admit that the Sheldon Adelson Coronavirus help has been more than any other corporation in Las Vegas… or America, for that matter. He has paid more of his employees more money than most… and now this. Mr. Adelson’s private plane delivered a donation of two million surgical masks recently. His plane first stopped in Albany, New York, where it delivered 500 boxes holding one million masks from China for health…

As well all wait for the Coronavirus to subside and our lives to return to (somewhat) normal, you may be wondering how casinos may change one the pandemic is over. Certainly, things will be different… some for the short term and some much longer. But not all of the changes possible will be negative. The days of buffets and large production shows are probably over, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be entertainment. It just won’t be on the scale that it used to be, which could mean big troubles for Cirque du Soleil and others. Nightclubs and public pools…