UK casinos have finally been cleared to reopen after their lengthy COVID-19 closure but the welcome news may have come too late for a large number of Genting UK staff.

On Friday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson laid out the latest phase of the government’s economic restart program, which will finally allow UK casinos to reopen to the public on August 1. The casinos were ordered closed in March as the country struggled to get its COVID-19 infection rate under control.

Betting shops were allowed to reopen last month but casinos were left behind, despite operators deploying the necessary health and safety precautions and furious lobbying by the Betting & Gaming Council (BGC) on behalf of the estimated 12k English casino staff furloughed since March.

On Friday, the BGC hailed the UK government’s announcement while demanding that regional authorities in Scotland and Wales “end the uncertainty” for the 2k casino staff in those regions who still don’t know when they might be going back to work.