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Slot machines are being removed to create social distancing. Temperature stations are being installed to make sure employees and guests are healthy when they walk in the door.
Two months after closing because of the coronavirus pandemic, Northern California’s casinos are gearing up to reopen.
None of the six casinos that ring the Sacramento area have announced reopening dates. But as retailers and other segments of the broader economy begin to awaken from the COVID-19 shutdown, the Indian tribes that operate the region’s casinos are reconfiguring their venues to accommodate public health guidelines.
Exactly when the slot machines will start chiming again remains uncertain.
“We’ve been kind of looking at the end of the month, first of June,” said JC Rieger, general manager and senior vice president at Harrah’s Northern California in Amador County.
Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Sacramento, which opened last fall in Wheatland, is “optimistic that we will reopen in May,” said casino president Mark Birtha. He said Hard Rock officials have been meeting with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s staff and expect to announce a reopening date soon.
Cache Creek Casino Resort plans to open “as early as June, if all goes well,” general manager Kari Stout-Smith said in a video posted on the casino’s website. She said Cache Creek’s golf course has already reopened.
A group of San Diego County casinos already has informed Newsom that they expect to begin reopening as early as Monday.
Because tribes are considered sovereign nations, legal experts and the tribes themselves say they have the authority to reopen their casinos regardless of what the governor says.
Tribal casinos in California have become an $8 billion a year business, and the Sacramento casinos operate as many slot machines as Reno’s. The abrupt shutdown of the industry in mid-March has depleted the tribes of their main revenue sources.
The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, for instance, has committed to paying Cache Creek’s 2,300 employees through the end of May but “we may have difficult decisions ahead,” Stout-Smith said in her video update.
The other Sacramento area casinos, Thunder Valley, Jackson Rancheria and Red Hawk, didn’t offer any information on when they might reopen. Casinos in Reno and at Lake Tahoe, which are subject to Nevada state regulation, haven’t announced any reopening dates. However, state officials have announced guidelines casinos must follow in Nevada before they can begin greeting customers again.
Get ready for plastic shields, fewer slot machines
The few casinos that have reopened across the United States have presented their customers with a completely new look - and, in some cases, an unexpected gift.
When the Thunderbird Casino in Norman, Okla., reopened Tuesday, employees handed out masks to the customers, most of whom didn’t bring their own. The slot machines were spaced six feet apart.
Northern California gamblers can expect comparable changes.
Rieger said Harrah’s might close some or all of its smoking sections to keep the air cleaner. Fewer slot machines will be available, “which is kind of the industry standard,” he said. The casino is still scrambling to figure out how to keep chips sanitized, he said.
Red Hawk Casino in Shingle Springs said employees will wear masks. Guests will have to wear them, too, and masks “will be available to purchase for guests who need one,” the casino said on its website. Plastic barriers “may be installed in areas of the casino, where appropriate, for the safety of our guests and team members.” Red Hawk hasn’t announced an opening date.
Tehama County’s Rolling Hills Casino will require customers and employees to wear masks, too. Plastic shields will be placed at registers. The casino floor is being reconfigured for social distancing.
Rolling Hills, which hasn’t set a reopening date, said walk-through “temperature kiosks” will be installed at the entry points, and no one will be allowed in with a temperature reading higher than 100.4 degrees. The casino said the kiosks will provide instant readings so people can enter quickly.
A “Clean Team” employee will clean a slot machine the minute a customer walks away. The air filtration system is being enhanced to “replenish the air inside” every four and a half minutes.
Cache Creek is installing “touchless thermal scans,” removing some of its slots and table games, and plans to require masks of guests and customers alike. Building occupancy “will be strictly limited” to improve social distancing, Smith said in her video update.
“When you come to the casino,” she said, “it will be a new experience for all of us.”
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