Casinos across Europe are rapidly losing their Christmas spirit as governments order them back under pandemic lockdown. 

On Wednesday, Melco Resorts & Entertainment’s Cyprus offshoot Cyprus Casinos (C2) posted a note to its website announcing that it would “temporarily suspend” operations at all four of its gaming venues “according to the government directive.”

The notice applies specifically to two of C2’s smaller satellite venues, as one other satellite location and C2’s larger ‘temporary’ casino in Limassol were forced to close in November. This is the second lockdown for C2, which shut all four venues in mid-March and didn’t reopen until the summer. 

In the Czech Republic, land-based gambling venues were permitted to emerge from their original lockdown on December 3, albeit it under strict capacity restrictions and limited hours of operation.