With the help of the governor, Nevada casinos are hoping to draw back customers with the safety of vaccinated employees. Gov. Steve Sisolak has announced resort employees will have priority access to Cvodi-19 vaccines, putting them in the “Tier 1 lane.”

This puts casino employees in at the same priority as other essential workers, including government employees and teachers, but also including food-service and airport workers. Making up more than 25% of Nevada’s workforce, adding resort workers to the Tier 1 group makes that group pretty big indeed.

By prioritizing the casino industry, the hope is that Nevada’s struggling economy can make a faster recovery, something gambling officials agree with. Virginia Valentine, president of the Nevada Resort Association, said the move will “will accelerate the consumer confidence needed to drive the visitor volume our economy depends on.” Candice McDaniel from the state Department of Health and Human Services agreed, noting the employees are “essential to our ability as a state to be healthy and to recover.”

There’s a pretty clear strategy to who’s getting vaccinated here. If a visitor can land at an airport where employees are all vaccinated, and then show up at a resort where they can dine and play with vaccinated employees, the general fear of Covid is removed. Valentine noted this offers a “significant competitive advantage” over other destinations.