Vegas bingo on death watch; Nevada regulators dither

Bingo is such a staple of the Las Vegas locals casino that it seems unimaginable that it would go the way of the buffet and the dodo. But such may be the case. VitalVegas author Scott Roeben says he is “told reliably” that Texas Station‘s bingo room is a goner and others may follow. According to Roeben, bingo is a loss-leader that brings in $1K/day. Although stale air and an elderly player base could make bingo rooms vectors for Covid-19, they’re also some of the easier venues in casinos in which social distancing could be enforced. So we’re going with Roeben’s theory that this is an economically motivated move. One thing’s for sure about the current state of affairs: When we come back from it it’s not going to be your father’s Vegas anymore, if it ever was.

Even if MGM Resorts International reopens Bellagio and New York-New York on June 1, as intended, don’t book tickets for O or Zumanity. Live entertainment is out of the question at least until July. Nor will you be able to ride the NY-NY rollercoaster until then. Nothing is slated for T-Mobile Arena until August 15, meaning that the youngsters will have to wait a spell for their next dose of Bieber Fever. (“I believe it’s a form of dysentery,” quipped Seth MacFarlane.) Said the company, “With so many unknowns at this moment around the schedule for property openings, stay at home orders across the country as well as access to travel, we have taken all entertainment off of the calendar through June.” And if you did buy tickets, refunds will be the order of the day.

* Over at Boyd Gaming, look for its casinos to reopen all at once. Or as CEO Keith Smith told investors. “I don’t see a phasing.” He added, “Downtown, with the three properties dealing largely to the Hawaiian market and then to crowds on Fremont Street, I think our business is going to look different. And we’ll have to wait and see how inbound tourism from Hawaii looks.” Given the sparsity of commercial airline travel, those charter flights from the erstwhile Sandwich Islands are going to be more important than ever.

* Nevada regulators are scared of requiring face masks for casino employees and guests but Idaho‘s Coeur d’Alene Casino isn’t. It’s mandating that customers wear the protective gear and is also thinning out seating in its restaurants as it reopens them. The first casino in the U.S. to fling its doors open again, Coeur d’Alene may also be the safest place to play: There hasn’t been a single Covid-19 case on the reservation.

As for Nevada’s new casino-capacity restrictions, former regulator Dennis Neilander says this is nothing new. “This is done in all the riverboat states where they have admission charges and gates where you have to buy an admission ticket. Everyone has to go in and out of the same door.” If, consequently, the Nevada Gaming Commission has to suspend other regulations governing public access, that could open the door to MGM’s proposed ban on non-hotel guests on-property.

Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairwoman Sandra Morgan shudders at the thought of thermal cameras monitoring guests’ temperatures. “If people are walking from outside into a property, would a thermal imaging camera actually capture whether or not someone is truly ill? Could that goal of making sure that people are not exhibiting Covid-like symptoms be achieved in another way? I would not be leaning toward that right now.” Former regulator Becky Harris gets the prize for understatement, for saying, “we just don’t know if it’s a good idea to have 3,500 people in a crowded nightclub at night dancing” Ya think?

Finally, another ex-regulator, Jeffrey Silver, thinks the casino industry is (irony alert) going too far on safety. He told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “Fun is still paramount in order to get people to come here. If they have everybody balled up with social distancing and unable to enjoy music and events, and things like that, that’s a real potential problem for the industry to attract its customers back on a long-term basis.” Of course death has a way of inhibiting long-term business but “fun” evidently must be #1.

* Creating opportunity out of crisis, entrepreneurial Vegas-based company Screaming Images is developing plasticine shields to act as safety barriers between table games and slot machines, because we can’t be too safe. No word on when they’ll be deployed but it won’t be a day too soon.

* Now that James Packer‘s plan to sell his 37% of Crown Resorts to Melco Resorts & Entertainment has gone the way of Mariah Carey’s wedding gown, could Blackstone Group be the new owner-in-waiting? It controls the second-largest bloc of Crown shares. The stock has perked up on the news. “Hard to say if [this] is imminent but as with big game hunting, it’s easier to track prey when it is weakened. Covid-19 has certainly done this to the casino and resort sector,” said James McGlew, executive director of corporate stockbroking at Argonaut. Crown shares had swooned 21% since mid-February, in part reflecting the forced closure of its casinos.