Despite The Pandemic, Casinos Have Never Been Busier

The staff at Maryland's six casinos have been developing strategies to keep the dice rolling on the craps tables while observing COVID safety measures.

Despite The Pandemic, Casinos Have Never Been Busier. Find out what's happening in Across Maryland with free, real-time updates from Patch.

Despite the Pandemic, Casinos Have Never Been Busier. Most of the U.S. casinos that have reopened since July 2020 have been working at 50% of their capacity. El Cortez Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas went down to 700 slot machines in June 2021 from 1,400 before the pandemic.

The El Cortez uses acrylic dividers at its poker, craps baccarat and blackjack tables. Poker and bacarat players are separated by plexiglass screens, constantly sprayed with Windex.

Despite the Pandemic, Online Casinos Have Never Been Busier. Maryland collected over $77 million of July's total revenues from casino games. MGM Nationwide Harbor reported over $72 million profit from gaming in July 2021. Well! Online Casino & Lodge made close to 63 million dollars this July alone. Horseshoe Online casino reported a gaming income of over over 22 million.

Despite the Pandemic, Casinos Have Never Been Busier. Grand Sierra Resort and Casino in Reno, Nevada, reported a steady increase in the number of visitors. Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, Biloxi, Mississippi, took all necessary precautions to keep business going as usual.

Nevada's governor ordered non-essential businesses to close in March 2020. Las Vegas's tourism watchdog LVCVA reported that over 2.2 million tourists visited The Strip in the first year after the order. On June 1, the state government lifted all capacity limits and social distancing requirements for casinos and hotels.

As of June 1, Nevada casinos can lift all capacity restrictions. Some casinos, like the Main Street Station, can't guarantee that the number of visitors will be enough to cover the operating costs. Texas Station and Fiesta Rancho put their gaming and liquor licenses on hold until the spring of 2022.