UPDATE: It’s official. MGM Resorts International says it is abandoning parking fees once the shutdown ends. We never thought it would happen so … hallelujah! Score one for the consumer.
Mississippi casinos reopen Thursday and while the current pandemic may have been “unprecedented” in one executive’s words, that doesn’t mean the industry was knocked for a loop. Mississippi Gaming Commission Executive Director Larry Gregory says, “This hasn’t been our first rodeo in 
terms of closures due to disaster. We’ve dealt with the BP oil spill, Mississippi River flooding, and the most memorable, Hurricane Katrina.” Global Gaming Business shines a spotlight on how one casino, Scarlet Pearl, is handling resumption of business and there’s a lot to like. “Shockingly—amazingly to us—very few [customers] are saying, ‘I’m not comfortable to come back,’” reports President Luann Pappas. While she hopes to staff back up to 80%, despite being able to run at only 50% capacity, “I told [at-risk employees], ‘We will continue to pay your benefits. Do not come into the casino.’”
Pappas has been a resourceful leader during the crisis. When employees lacked for work, she found some in the form of supplementing Mississippi’s overburdened unemployment-relief phone lines. And when plexiglas dividers to enforce 
social distancing proved too time-consuming for suppliers to deliver when needed, she insourced the job to casino employees: “So we did the research, bought the supplies at local stores, built a prototype and had it approved. We built our own. We built them for every table game and every slot machine.” Although employee pay ran out on April 15, the family owned casino has kept health benefits in place indefinitely. As for still-idle workers, Pappas says, I don’t want to bring them back if the volume isn’t there. We have to take it slow. We gave them our word we wouldn’t lay them off.”
* Sports bettors flocked … to their TVs this weekend. Over six million Americans tuned in to Fox to watch the running of the NASCAR Cup Series Race (held without spectators) in Darlington. Another two million-plus actually watched a charity ‘skins’ golf match on NBC. The Darlington race’s viewership leapt 38% from last year while the golf tourney, won by Rory McIlroy, raised $5.5 million for Covid-19 relief. Throw in the late-April return of the UFC and the recent revival of the Professional Bull Riders tour, and sports bettors finally can wager on something without having to get up at dawn to watch Korean baseball.
* Could Coronavirus be the event that finally pushes Georgia into the arms of casinos? Even we didn’t think so until we read the following from 
Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R): “the cost of this pandemic has been absolutely devastating in Georgia. In addition to the lives lost, one in three Georgians have lost their job. Crop prices have decreased 50-60%. Food banks have seen a 40% increase in demand.” If things are as bad as Loeffler says—and we have no reason to doubt her—the Lege may finally act on growing pro-gaming sentiment. The opposition of the Georgia Lottery (booming during shelter-in-place) will be immense, so it will be a heavy lift, but the political imperative may finally exist.
* M Resort had one of the best buffets in the Las Vegas Valley. No more. Penn National Gaming is closing it and the one at the Tropicana Las Vegas for an unspecified period of time. And forget about a traditional sit-
down lunch at an M/Trop restaurant. According to reporter Susan Stapleton, “restaurants that do open will only offered prepackaged sandwiches, drinks, and snacks.” No live entertainment, either. This spartan regime is informed by (explicitly) an abundance of caution on Penn’s part and (we suspect) the company’s relative penury. Be prepared for the sight of a fog machine (yes, a fog machine) on the casino floor at night, part of the new cleaning regimen. We’d definitely go to the Trop to check out that novelty. Kudos, incidentally, the Penn for donating 45 tons of perishable food to local charities as the pandemic raged.
* In a literally underground development during the pandemic, Elon Musk‘s Boring Co. has finished the excavation phase of its subterranean people mover for the Las Vegas Convention Center. Musk is promising the 
mover will be moving ‘early next year.’ Ideally, this will be in time for Consumer Electronics Show. When finished, little Tesla cars will convey conventioneers around a two-mile loop, saving them a lot of wear and tear on their feet. The entire trip should take two minutes. “This milestone not only helps usher in the future of transportation in Las Vegas, but it signals the destination’s ability to push through during trying times and continue to meet the evolving needs of our visitors,” remarked LVCVA CEO Steve Hill. Considering that the project was incepted in May 2019, Musk has been moving along smartly. Once finished, the ‘pods’ will carry 12-16 passengers, assuming social distancing is no longer in place.
Perhaps less smartly, he’s been flirting with moving one of his factories to Sin City (Councilwoman Michele Fiore proposed naming a street after him in return), which led California to threaten him with the loss of his tax credits. Musk has also been making eyes at Texas, so Nevada needs to offer more than a street and some low taxes.
