Vegas mayor tells Nevada guv to reopen casinos, stop “killing us”

Nevada’s casinos are exploring possible ways to restart their operations following last month’s state-ordered shutdown of nearly all gaming.

On Wednesday, Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman climbed up into her bully pulpit and went on a bit of a rant, calling the COVID-19-related shutdown of all casinos “total insanity, in my opinion.” Goodman claimed that the state’s 128 coronavirus-related deaths “represent less than a half of 1% of our population,” and thus the gutting of Nevada’s casino-based economy “makes no sense.”

Goodman slammed Gov. Steve Sisolak, who ordered a 30-day shutdown of all gaming venues on March 17 and later extended that order through the end of April. Goodman claimed Sisolak had “no plan in place” to restart Nevada’s economy and yet still urged him to “Open the city. Open Clark County. Open the state. For heaven’s sake, being closed is killing us already.”

That last claim was amply demonstrated this week as the Lakeside Inn and Casino on Lake Tahoe announced that it was closing its doors for good after 35 years. The casino previously said it hoped to reopen once the closure order was lifted but now says the math simply doesn’t work.