Caesars Windsor To Finally Open Its Doors Again
After months of lockdown due to the global health crisis, Canada’s province of Ontario is finally entering the third phase of its reopening plan. With this has come the official announcement that Caesars Windsor will once again open its doors. However, in accordance with the province’s reopening rules, the casino will only operate at half capacity. This means that just 2,500 casino patrons may be onsite at any given time.
Caesars Employees Hoped To Reopen Sooner
Just last month, it was reported that the employees at Caesars Windsor were lobbying to get their place of work to open sooner. David Cassidy, the President of Unifor Local 444, had expressed his desire to get casinos open again, but at a limited capacity due to the fact that the number of new cases were reaching all-time lows as the number of administered vaccinations continued to grow.
Mr Cassidy said at the time that there didn’t appear to be any reason for Caesars to not open up at 50% capacity if strict measures were taken. Premier Ford announced that the province would move into the second phase of its reopening plan two days early on 30 June. However, casinos do not qualify to open until phase three officially starts, which is on 16 July.
A Portion Of The Workers May Return
As the province reaches the third level of its reopening plan, at least 600 of the 2,200 unionised workers will finally be able to return to work. However, there has not yet been any official word from Caesars Windsor on what its reopening plan will be. The casino complex has been shut for most of the global health crisis, save for one short period in the first third of 2020.
According to Mr Cassidy, at least 300 employees have already returned for training, with more set to return later this week. He has said that he is happy about the reopening but would like to see the casino operating again at full capacity. The Unifor President added that he does find it a bit disappointing that he cannot fully reopen based on the low numbers in Windsor Essex County.
However, the casino is now also authorised to reopen table games, which is a huge win in Cassidy’s eyes. Caesars Windsor now has Plexiglas in place to ready the establishment for a full reopening. He is confident that the casino has done its due diligence in terms of making it safe for employees and patrons.