Casinos in England finally reopen

Casinos in England were allowed to reopen on Saturday.

UK.- Casinos in England were finally allowed to reopen on Saturday (August 15) after the government decided against extending closures further.

Casinos closed on March 20 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and operators saw two earlier anticipated dates for reopening get pushed back by the government, first in July and then most recently on August 1.

In that last extension, casinos were told less than 24 hours before expecting to reopen that the date was being pushed back to at least August 15.

The same decision applied to theatres, beauty salons, bowling alleys and several other types of indoor business.

The closure has not been extended any further and casinos were finally able to open on Saturday with the hygiene and social distancing measures they have been preparing for the past two months.

Grosvenor Casinos said it was reopening 35 of it 46 casinos in England. Safety measures include a limit on capacity, voluntary PPE and face coverings for guests and staff, screens on gaming tables and machines, hand sanitiser stations and contactless payments.

Managing Director, Jonathon Swaine, said: “We’ve been ready to reopen safely for a number of weeks and we are delighted we can now finally welcome back our customers to enjoy our casinos safely once more.”

Genting UK said it opened the majority of its casinos on Saturday, although it has already announced plans to permanently close at least three of its UK casinos.

A spokesman said: “After weeks of meticulous planning, we are fully confident that our casinos are ready for re-opening.

“This is what we have been building towards for some time now, and the delays we have experienced have of course been hugely frustrating and damaging to the business.

“The re-opening is therefore incredibly exciting for all involved and we cannot wait to welcome customers back into our casinos.”

The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), the industry association which heavily criticised the last delay to the reopening of casinos, welcomed the decision saying it would be greeted with relief by the 12,000 people working in the sector.

BGC Chief Executive, Michael Dugher, said: “We regret that it has taken so long for staff to return to work – long after all manner of venues and activities that don’t have anything like the anti-Covid measures you will see in any casino – were reopened.

“Given casinos had been cleared by Public Health England as safe to reopen and given we had the strong support of DCMS, who have been steadfast throughout, it was lamentable that our safe businesses had to suffer considerable hurt and expense with a further pointless two-week delay.”

However, he warned that casinos face a rocky road ahead, calling on the government to extend the Covid-19 furlough scheme to help protect jobs and venues.

He said: “The last five months have left many casinos on the brink and the next few months will be particularly crucial to their recovery as the tourism, leisure and hospitality sector slowly gets back on its feet.

“This sector can play an important part in our national economic recovery and I hope ministers will continue to work closely with the industry to provide support through this difficult period.”

Casinos in Scotland and Wales are still closed. The Scottish government has set a tentative date of August 24 for casinos to reopen, but Wales has yet to announce when its four casinos can expect to reopen.

The BGC has pressed the Welsh government to set a date, dismissing Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford’s comparison of casinos to nightclubs last week. 

Drakeford had said in a session on Facebook live: “Just as I described nightclubs as places that are generally dark and intimate, well casinos are the same aren’t they? You know, they are places where people are close to one another and where the atmosphere is part of the product that is on offer.

“And the atmosphere is one in which there are additional risks of Coronavirus spreading, so we will think carefully about casinos and the small number of other places that cannot reopen as part of the current three-week review.”

Dugher wrote to the First Minister to contest the comparison, writing: “Casinos are not remotely like nightclubs and have invested heavily to ensure that our venues are safe for both our colleagues and customers alike.”

He has now again called on Drakeford to allow casinos to reopen, saying “Casinos have invested heavily in new Covid safeguards; there can be no justification for further delaying their opening.

“We continue to urge the Welsh government to fully engage with the sector and seek the reassurances we can provide to bring about the safe reopening of casinos in Wales.”