Big Vegas casino owners bring COVID-19 vaccines to workers
The world’s two biggest casino companies are bringing the coronavirus vaccine to their Las Vegas Strip employees, with inoculation clinics at the Mandalay Bay resort convention center and the Rio All-Suites Hotel.
Easing vaccine availability for thousands of hotel and hospitality workers in Nevada’s tourism-dependent city comes with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas setting a July 1 date to return to in-person activities and city workers fanning out following the lifting of sports restrictions to install basketball hoops again at city parks.
MGM Resorts International said Tuesday it saw vaccinations as “a critically important tool in helping to end the pandemic and accelerate our community’s economic recovery.”
Caesars Entertainment
Inc. said it will start offering shots Thursday at the Rio for all company workers, with a goal of 10,000 vaccinations in April. It will partner with Albertsons supermarkets to administer up to 2,000 shots per day by appointment only.
Caesars was acquired last July by Reno-based Eldorado Resorts Inc., becoming the largest casino owner in the world. It operates more than 50 casino properties in 14 U.S. states,
including eight Las Vegas Strip resorts.
MGM Resorts, the largest employer in Nevada, has nine major resorts on the Las Vegas Strip. It had more than 50,000 workers before closures began in March 2020 to stem the spread of COVID-19. The company laid off about one in four of its 70,000 employees nationwide as the pandemic continued. Not all employees have returned to work.