Nevada casinos brace for impact as 78-day COVID-19 closure ends

Nevada’s casinos are just hours away from reopening their doors, and even civil unrest in the streets can’t dampen their enthusiasm.

Having been cleared by the governor to reopen to the public as of June 4, some Nevada casinos plan to take that timeline literally, throwing open their doors as of 12:01am Thursday to end their 78-day COVID-19 shutdown as soon as possible.

If other states are any judge, gamblers who dare cross a casino threshold will find that the new health and safety precautions take a bit of getting used to, but they’ll adjust. All Nevada venues are limited to operating at 50% capacity, meaning those casinos that have been lucky enough to book a high volume of room reservations may be forced to limit walk-in guests.

The civil unrest that has gripped the nation following George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police won’t derail the casino relaunch timeline, but the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority decided to pull a planned 30-second television commercial promoting the relaunch, citing “current events.”