Alberta’s casinos and bingo halls prepare for potential reopening
Casinos and bingo halls in Alberta are preparing protocols to be able to resume operations “as soon as possible”.
Canada.- Casinos and bingo halls remain closed in Alberta despite originally being scheduled to resume operations at the beginning of March.
The authorities finally decided to push the reopening of bingo halls, racetracks and casinos back to the next stage of Alberta’s reopening programme at the end of the month.
Brenda Pope, manager of Edmonton’s Castledowns Bingo Hall, said: “We want to make sure we’re still being cautious. So the new normal is going to be much different than the old normal.”
She added that venues will still need to enforce strict safety precautions, including sanitising and temperature checks, despite the roll-out of vaccinations.
CEO at River Cree Resort and Casino, Vik Mahajan, says venues are ready to open as soon as possible.
Bingo Alberta has conducted a virtual training session on Covid-19 protocols for staff.
The Alberta government expects CA$1.25bn (US$987.3m) in gaming and lottery revenue for the 2021-22 fiscal year, after the CA$527m for 2020-21, down from the CA$1.4bn that was estimated prior to the pandemic.
