Las Vegas casinos are famous for being open 24/7, and the last time Sin City closed its doors was 57-years ago, on Nov. 23, 1963, the day after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
However, after paying their respects, it was business, as usual, the very next day for the Las Vegas hotels and casinos. But not this time. On March 17, 2020, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak declared that all “nonessential” businesses must close for 30 days to “combat the Coronavirus”. In the days since, Governor Sisolak has also banned the assembly of more than 10 people. Finally, the Governor also banned doctors from prescribing chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to Covid-19 patients; these two drugs have shown anecdotal promise for treating the disease.
MGM International beat Governor Sisolak to the punch, shutting down their operations not only in Nevada, but also in New Jersey and Mississippi in response to the coronavirus. Unfortunately, the crisis in the Silver State may drag on much longer than one month.
Locking Up the Strip
“There’s no lock on the door,” said Michael Rubinstein. Rubenstein is the executive chef at Momofuku, one of the best restaurants on the strip. “For the last three years, there has always been at least one person here every day, except between the hours of 3 a.m. and 7 a.m.”
In response to the Governor’s shutdown order, some Vegas hotels had to use plywood to board up their windows and doors.
Jay Kornegay closed up the SuperBook inside the Westgate Resort and Casino. He said shutting down the sportsbook wasn’t quite as dramatic as other parts of the casino, since most sports leagues had already suspended play, and the in-person traffic had virtually stopped inside the sportsbook.
“Seventy percent of our wagers come through mobile,” Kornegay said. “This week, it was 98 percent.”
President of Interactive Gaming for MGM Resorts, Scott Butera, thought Las Vegas looked like the movie “Omega Man,” right now; that is a 1971 film that starring Charlton Heston as the sole survivor of a bioattack. That movie was remade in 2007 as “I am Legend” with Will Smith.
“You see all these monumental buildings that are meant to have at least 10,000 people in there, and no one is there,” Butera mused.
Sportsbooks with online options open
Butera reports that the Nevada Gaming Control Board has made a special exemption for retail sportsbooks that have online options to continue their operations; this is because the current Nevada gaming regulations tie the retail sportsbooks to being open.
However, the question is, what is there to bet on?
“We’ve had a few meetings concerning being more creative,” Butera said. “We’re not down to betting on turtle races yet. But we know people like to gamble.”
Whenever the country has faced a national crisis, whether it was a recession or a national tragedy, Las Vegas has always been an escape. But not this time.
“And every time there’s been a crisis, we’ve had sports,” Butera said. “People could always watch a game. But this time, we don’t even have that.”
The NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB, as well as college sports, have all shut down their seasons in response to the coronavirus.
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman has issued an urgent plea to Governor Steve Sisolak to shorten the 30-day closure of “nonessential” businesses, to not only protect workers, but also to avoid killing the state’s financial recovery for years to come.
“I know we can’t survive a total shutdown of the economy for any length of time beyond a week or two,” the mayor said, pointing to both the hospitality industry and small, independently-owned businesses. “My full efforts will be placed on keeping as many of our people as possible working and asking the governor to shorten the shutdown.”
“Please, Governor Sisolak, we need to live our lives, support our families and, yes, keep Nevada together and strong,” she said. “But we can’t do that if we are constantly housebound, unable to work for such a long time period.”
