{"id":26985,"date":"2020-05-06T08:35:38","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T16:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=26985"},"modified":"2020-05-31T07:01:46","modified_gmt":"2020-05-31T15:01:46","slug":"vegas-bingo-on-death-watch-nevada-regulators-dither","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/vegas-bingo-on-death-watch-nevada-regulators-dither\/","title":{"rendered":"Vegas bingo on death watch; Nevada regulators dither"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bingo is such a staple of the Las Vegas<\/strong> 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<\/em> author Scott Roeben<\/strong> says he is “told \"\"reliably” that Texas Station<\/strong>‘s bingo room is a goner<\/a> 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<\/strong>, 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.<\/p>\n

Even if MGM Resorts International<\/strong> reopens Bellagio<\/strong> and New York-New York<\/strong> on June 1, as intended, don’t book tickets for O<\/em> or Zumanity<\/em>. Live entertainment is out of the question at least until July<\/a>. \"\"Nor will you be able to ride the NY-NY rollercoaster until then. Nothing is slated for T-Mobile Arena<\/strong> 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<\/strong>.) Said the company, \u201cWith 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<\/em> buy tickets, refunds will be the order of the day.<\/p>\n

* Over at Boyd Gaming<\/strong>, look for its casinos to reopen all at once. Or as CEO Keith Smith<\/strong> told investors<\/a>. “I don’t see a phasing.” He added,\u00a0\"\"\u201cDowntown<\/strong>, with the three properties dealing largely to the Hawaiian market and then to crowds on Fremont Street<\/strong>, I think our business is going to look different.\u00a0And we\u2019ll have to wait and see how inbound tourism from Hawaii<\/strong> looks.\u201d Given the sparsity of commercial airline travel, those charter flights from the erstwhile Sandwich Islands<\/strong> are going to be more important than ever.<\/p>\n

* Nevada<\/strong> regulators are scared<\/a> of requiring face masks for casino employees and guests but Idaho<\/strong>‘s Coeur d\u2019Alene Casino<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

As for Nevada’s new casino-capacity restrictions, former regulator Dennis Neilander<\/strong> says this is nothing new.\u00a0\u201cThis is done in all the riverboat states where they have admission charges and gates where you have to buy an admission ticket.\u00a0Everyone has to go in and out of the same door.\u201d If, consequently, the Nevada Gaming Commission<\/strong> has to suspend other regulations governing public access, that could open the door to MGM’s proposed ban on non-hotel guests on-property.<\/p>\n

Nevada Gaming Control Board<\/strong> Chairwoman Sandra Morgan<\/strong> shudders at the thought of thermal cameras monitoring guests’ temperatures.\u00a0\u201cIf 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.\u201d Former regulator Becky Harris<\/strong> gets the prize for understatement, for saying,\u00a0\u201cwe just don\u2019t know if it\u2019s a good idea to have 3,500 people in a crowded nightclub at night dancing\u201d Ya think<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Finally, another ex-regulator, Jeffrey Silver<\/strong>, thinks the casino industry is (irony alert) going too far on safety. He told the Las Vegas Review-Journal<\/em>,\u00a0\u201cFun 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\u2019s a real potential problem for the industry to attract its customers back on a long-term basis.\u201d Of course death has a way of inhibiting long-term business but “fun” evidently must be #1.<\/p>\n

* Creating opportunity out of crisis, entrepreneurial Vegas-based company Screaming Images<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

* Now that James Packer<\/strong>‘s plan to sell his 37% of Crown Resorts<\/strong> to Melco Resorts & Entertainment<\/strong> has gone the way of Mariah Care<\/strong>y’s wedding gown, could Blackstone Group<\/strong> be the new owner-in-waiting? It controls the second-largest bloc<\/a> of Crown shares. The stock has perked up on the news.\u00a0\u201cHard to say if [this]\u00a0is imminent but as with big game hunting, it\u2019s easier to track prey when it is weakened. Covid-19 has certainly done this to the casino and resort sector,\u201d\u00a0said James McGlew<\/strong>, executive director of corporate stockbroking at Argonaut<\/strong>. Crown shares had swooned 21% since mid-February, in part reflecting the forced closure of its casinos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[103,60,219,51,4,144,283,194,96,222,245,8,114,9,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26985"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26985"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27194,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26985\/revisions\/27194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}