US casino operators may be chomping at the bit to restart operations following their pandemic shutdowns but casino staff want some reassurances before they return to work.

On Tuesday, Unite Here and the Culinary Workers Union, which represent casino employees across the country, issued guidelines they want to see instituted at all gaming venues before staff are asked to resume their former roles at the currently shuttered venues.

The guidelines include ensuring adequate supplies of personal protective equipment, contact tracing of suspected carriers, employer-paid COVID-19 testing of all staff before resuming work, immunity from retaliation if an employee refuses to work in a situation he/she deems unsafe, and a host of other concerns.

Many of the guidelines involving social distancing measures, equipment cleaning and temperature checks have already been suggested by some major casino operators, but the unions’ guidelines go far beyond that, raising the awkward question of who is going to pay for all these time- and resource-heavy responsibilities.

More Swedish-licensed online gambling operators have signed their names to a letter protesting the government’s plans to impose even tougher limits on deposits and bonus offers.

Last week, Sweden’s Branschföreningen för Onlinespel (BOS) industry association issued a public letter signed by the CEOs of Betsson, Kindred Group, LeoVegas, NetEnt and William Hill, all of whom urged Social Security Minister Ardalan Shekarabi to back off plans to impose new weekly limits on deposits, losses and bonuses.

On Tuesday, BOS announced that CEOs representing Swedish-licensed operators ComeOn Group, Suprnation, Hero Gaming, Video Slots Ltd, Quickspin, Casumo and Betway had added their names to the letter, which BOS republished in full, just in case anyone missed the point the first time around.

BOS boss Gustaf Hoffstedt said the 12 signatories “represent about half” of Sweden’s regulated online gambling market (presumably in terms of revenue, as the Spelinspektionen regulatory body has licensed 70 online operators). Hoffstedt called on “all gaming company CEOs” bearing Swedish licenses to add their names, regardless of whether they were BOS members.

Oklahoma’s new tribal gaming compacts don’t stand up to legal scrutiny, according to the state’s top law enforcement officer.

On Tuesday, Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter issued an official opinion that Gov. Kevin Stitt exceeded his authority in negotiating two new gaming compacts with the Comanche Nation and the Otoe-Missouria Tribe late last month.

The two compacts not only allow the tribes to build new casinos off tribal land on properties taken into trust by the government, they also authorize the tribes to add sports betting to their gaming palette, despite Oklahoma legislators having yet to authorize legal wagering anywhere in the state.

Hunter’s opinion was in response to requests by state House and Senate leaders, who maintain that Stitt’s new compacts are a direct challenge to their authority to have the final say on gaming issues. Hunter concurred, ultimately concluding that Stitt “lacks authority to enter into and bind the state to compacts with Indian tribes that authorize gaming activity prohibited by state law.”

Macau casino operator SJM Holdings reported a rare net loss in the first quarter of 2020 as its operations were “severely impacted” by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Figures released Tuesday by the Hong Kong-listed SJM show the company generated revenue of HK$3.48b (US$448.8m) in the three months ending March 31, a nearly 60% fall from the same period last year.

Net gaming revenue was down a similarly dire percentage to HK$3.4b, while adjusted earnings tumbled 118.6% to -HK$200m and SJM booked a net loss of HK$409m versus a profit of HK$850m one year ago.

Like all Macau casino operators, SJM has been laid low by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has reduced Macau’s tourist visitation to almost nothing. Average occupancy at SJM’s Grand Lisboa Hotel was only 35.3% in Q1, down from nearly 95% a year ago.

Online gambling operator Global Gaming says it’s close to realizing its goal of breaking even in the first half of 2020 while denying allegations that its Ninja Casino brand continues to operate in Sweden.

Figures released Tuesday by the Stockholm-listed Global Gaming show the company’s revenue over the first three months of 2020 fell by nearly two-thirds to SEK57.8m (US$5.9m) but operating losses narrowed dramatically from SEK43.3m in Q1 2019 to just SEK400k in the most recent quarter.

Global Gaming had been on a downward spiral ever since Sweden’s regulated online gambling market launched in January 2019, a situation that ramped up dramatically last June when the country’s Spelinspektionen regulatory body revoked the license of Global Gaming’s flagship Ninja Casino brand due to social responsibility and anti-money laundering failings.

Global Gaming initially tried to revive Ninja Casino’s Swedish operations through a partnership with Swedish licensee Viral Interactive but Spelinspektionen pulled the plug on that “highly inappropriate” arrangement in February.