After months of being closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Nevada is hoping to get gambling operations running again on June 4. That plan, which was approved on May 27, may now be in some doubt due to the ongoing unrest in America caused by the death of George Floyd, but looks like it’s still likely to push through in one form or another. Our Becky Liggero Fontana caught up with Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) Chairwoman Sandra Douglass Morgan to understand the plan, and how it’s expected to go down.

“We’re in such unprecedented times, but with those unprecedented times definitely require unprecedented measures,” Douglass Morgan said. “And so the Gaming Control Board issued an industry notice setting forth two policies, one for our larger properties that we call non-restrictive licensees, and one for the smaller ones, bars and taverns with 15 machines or less, telling them that they would have to affirm that they would comply with those guidelines, and for the larger properties they would need to submit a plan. And so our goal was to create universal standards through these policies that could cover the largest integrated resort and the smallest one, but putting an employee training and safety, and patron safety, first and foremost that’s the most important thing for our policies and our plan.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a29Ksam2mpgVideo can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: Sandra Douglass Morgan: Nevada is ready to offer world class service again (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a29Ksam2mpg)

The first priority is to ensure the risk of Covid-19 spreading is as low as possible. “And so obviously all properties would have to be deep, deep cleaned and disinfected prior to reopening, but I just had to reiterate time and time again employee training and safety, you know we are the capital for hospitality and we know that when people come to Las Vegas and even Nevada as a hole that they know they’re going to receive that high level customer service, and customer service includes also feeling safe and being safe,” she said. “And we’ve seen some of our operators already published some of their plans that show that they’re really going to give the white glove treatment to people who come to their properties, and so we know that we’re going to do this right we’re going to make sure that people are safe and prepared and hopefully it’ll be, it will be a little different than I think what people are used to, but Nevada is known for recreating and doing new and innovative things, I’m sure people will still have a good time.”