Light impact for new limits

Experts: Slow season softens blow for big casino operators

Nevada’s heavyweight casino operators aren’t saying how they are complying with the new capacity limits, but experts say the change isn’t likely to drastically alter casino operations, considering their floors were largely empty under the previous restrictions.

It’s industry practice for casinos to track how many people are on their floors, even before the capacity limits in the age of COVID-19, according to former MGM Resorts International executive Rick Arpin. Industry operators will count through security cameras, hand counts, and in some cases nationally, artificial intelligence, though Arpin wasn’t sure of the latter’s local prevalence.

“The casinos in Las Vegas are rarely, if ever, at capacity,” he said.

That’s especially true during the last weeks of the calendar year, a historically slow season for visitation, Arpin said. The late-november timing of Gov. Steve Sisolak’s decision to tighten capacity limits at 25 percent inside bars, restaurants and casinos may soften the blow after months of operating at 50 percent capacity.

Spokespeople for major Strip operators MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment Inc and Wynn Resorts Ltd. said Sunday their respective companies would comply with the directive. They did not provide additional comment when

reached Tuesday.

“We believe the Governor made a prudent decision that will protect public health,” Wynn spokesman Michael Weaver said Sunday.

Spokespeople for Boyd Gaming Corp., Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Red Rock Resorts Inc. did not respond to requests for comment.

Las Vegas casinos were required to enforce the lower limit starting Tuesday, lasting at least three weeks.

Whether the restrictions loosen depends on their success in slowing COVID-19 infections in the state.

Monitoring at Las Vegas casinos may prove harder than elsewhere in the country. Local properties must factor in more entrances and an entire hotel population into their crowd control efforts, Arpin said. To reduce flow, he said, they may self-impose occupancy restraints or provide incentives for hotel guests to

stay in their rooms.

A representative group for Nevada’s largest gaming operators said Sunday resorts would comply with Sisolak’s decision and cut capacity inside casinos to 25 percent of fire code maximum occupancy.

“We understand the Governor’s actions seek to balance the best interests of public health with the ongoing economic impacts,” Nevada Resort Association President Virginia Valentine said Sunday.

The Gaming Control Board, which oversees and regulates gaming licenses, indicated gaming operators won’t need to overhaul their previously approved reopening or operating plans with the new changes. Under the board’s guidance released Tuesday, retail and pools can continue to operate at 50 percent.

“Logistically there will not be any difference” in enforcing the rules, according to Gaming Control Board spokesman Michael Lawton.

The new restrictions aim to spread out people inside of casinos and re

duce contact with one another, thus slowing the spread of COVID-19, according to Dr. Brian Labus, a UNLV epidemiologist and a member of Sisolak’s coronavirus advisory team. Labus said reducing from 50 to 25 percent is “kind of arbitrary,” but it’s easy to follow and halves the number of people gathering in places the state has identified as a source of spread.

“I think the real challenge is we don’t have a lot of other options” this far into the pandemic, Labus said.

Reduced capacity probably will hurt locals or drive-in reliant casinos more than the Strip giants, said Nehme Abouzeid, president and founder of Launchvegas LLC consulting. And casino floor limits would hurt properties more if occupancy rates were higher.