Pa Casino Shut Down
Shortly after Michigan announced it would begin to shutter its brick-and-mortar casinos for a second time as a part of another round of COVID-19 restrictions, other states have begun to follow suit.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced that it will shut down the state’s gaming market starting at 11:01 p.m. Thursday night. He did not announce how long these closures will last, according to a report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
If any of the state’s 10 casinos refuse to close during the mandated shutdown, they could lose their gaming license, according to the Illinois Gaming Board’s website.
Along with Illinois, New Mexico casinos are also beginning to cease operations in response to a COVID-19 surge. Route 66 Casino Hotel closed in mid-October response and according to local media outlets, the government is urging the 23 other tribal casinos to follow suit.
Santa Ana Star Casino announced the closure last week and Sandia Casino never reopened since it shut its doors in March. Since the entire gaming industry in the state is run by tribes, the state government is unable to unilaterally shut down the entire market.
While Pennsylvania hasn’t announced a statewide mandate, one of its biggest cities is beginning to enact strict lockdown measures and one of the state’s biggest casinos is being forced to close again.
Rivers Casino Philadelphia, formerly SugarHouse Casino, is shutting down Friday and will not be allowed to reopen until January 2, 2021. South Philadelphia Race and Sportsbooks will be closed during that same timeframe.
Other states, like California and Ohio, are beginning to implement curfews on its citizens. While state officials haven’t announced anything specific to the gaming industry, it’s still unclear what effect curfews will have on the casino industry.
- Rivers Casino Philadelphia was already closed on Nov. 20 after the city issued a mandate that shut it down. The mandates come as COVID-19 cases are rising all over the country and regulators are.
- Revenue for Pennsylvania casinos was down 51 percent for the month. Casinos were forced to close in mid-March as part of Gov. Tom Wolf’s shutdown of all non-life sustaining businesses.
Before reopening in July, New Jersey was one of the strictest and most cautious states when it came to its casino industry. This time around, however, it appears that Garden State casinos will avoid another shutdown. According to a report from the Press of Atlantic City, Gov. Phil Murphy said that there is no evidence that his state’s casinos are linked to any outbreaks of COVID-19.
Colorado casinos were in jeopardy of being closed as new restrictions were imposed Monday, but Teller County officials said earlier this week that the casino industry would not be affected.
Thankfully, other forms of gambling that the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) regulates will not be affected. These include online casino-type games, fantasy contests as well as sportsbooks. Some Hopes Thanks to the Vaccine. Perhaps the biggest development in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic is the new COVID-19 vaccine from.
Massachusetts is home to some fantastic commercial casinos. As most already know, these casinos have seen large drops in revenue and visitation rates this year. Unfortunately, MA’s casino rules are becoming stricter once again and a complete shutdown could be on the horizon.
All US casinos have been suffering throughout 2020. This industry could be facing its toughest test to date over the next few months. Today, we’ll be talking about what new rules are being implemented in Massachusetts.
Let’s check it out.
Casino Revenue Continues to Plummet in November
For decades, lawmakers in the state of Massachusetts were against the legalization of casino gambling. Gambling proponents were working hard to allow commercial casinos, yet these efforts continued to fail. Finally, in 2011, a law was passed to allow casinos in the state.
It didn’t take long for major casino companies to express interest in operating here. MGM Resorts International and Wynn Resorts both secured licenses to open casinos in MA. Now, MGM Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor are two of the biggest casinos in this state.
2020 has been an extremely difficult year for these casinos. They’ve both seen massive revenue drops almost every single month. November proved to be a particularly rough month for the state’s casino industry. .
Recently, reports surfaced that claimed the casinos here earned just $45 million in November. That was a huge drop from the $69 million seen in October. It proved to be the worst-ever month for MGM Springfield in terms of revenue.
Many believe that December will end up being an even worse month. Massachusetts has been implementing more intense restrictions lately. Very few residents here are choosing to visit and gamble inside a crowded casino.
Many analysts expected to see more intense regulations be placed towards casinos. We’re now beginning to hear about these new rules being set in place.
Here’s an Update on MA’s Casino Rules
It’s been tough to see the casino industry in Massachusetts take so many hits this year. Prior to 2020, this state had one of the fastest-growing gaming industries in the country. Now, some fear the casinos here could be forced to permanently shut down.
Lawmakers now feel that more rules need to be set in place. Officials here announced a new set of regulations towards businesses this week. As you might expect, MA’s casino rules are getting more intense and will likely result in even larger drops in revenue.
Moving forward, casinos in this state must be limited to just 25% capacity. This will be set in place for at least two weeks. Governor Charlie Baker claims this is necessary to protect the state’s hospital system.
“Our hospitals are now under significant pressure and we’re heading toward another period over this holiday stretch where we’re likely to see another significant increase in cases and hospitalizations unless everybody plays a very different game than the one we all played at Thanksgiving,” Baker said. “We think it’s appropriate to take action now to slow that spread and we must do so in a way that can avoid overrunning our hospital system.”
This seems to be the last step before completely shutting down casinos. Obviously, it will be extremely difficult for the gambling venues here to generate revenue at just 25% capacity. In the end, however, the owners seem happy to be able to keep operations running at all.
Governor Baker claims that more intense regulations could still be on the way. If another spike in Covid-19 cases is seen after the holidays, it seems highly likely that we’ll see casinos close their doors again. Stay tuned for updates!
Pennsylvania’s Casino Industry Remains Shut Down
Massachusetts isn’t the only state seeing its casino industry take a hit recently. On December 12, lawmakers in Pennsylvania ordered all commercial casinos to officially close their doors. This was done in an attempt to lessen the number of hospitalizations in the state.
It’s been nearly two weeks and all of the casinos in PA remain closed to the public. It’s an extremely difficult situation for the huge number of gambling venues here. Many of these casinos were seeing low revenue figures prior to the shutdowns.
The current plan is for casinos to begin reopening on January 4. If Covid-19 cases continue to increase, this date will be pushed back.
Fortunately, Pennsylvania is benefiting from its online gambling industry. Both online casino gambling and sports betting are regulated in this state. Many of the casino companies based here are seeing much-needed money come in from these online gambling platforms.
MA’s casino rules could begin looking like Pennsylvania’s soon. There’s even a chance that the country’s biggest casino hubs such as Las Vegas could order another round of shutdowns sometime in the future. The next few weeks will tell a lot about how things will look next year.
Pa Casino Shut Down Today
Do you think Massachusetts’ casinos should be ordered to shut down? When do you expect the US casino industry to recover? Let us know in the comments section below!