Casinos in England Finally Reopen after 5 Long Months of COVID-19 Closure

After 5 long months of waiting, land-based casinos in England have finally been allowed to re-open their doors in UK’s post-pandemic recovery. The brick and mortar gaming facilities got the green light to get back to business on Saturday, the 15th of August as the government continues to relax the COVID-19 restrictions across the country.

This announcement was officially relayed via a press release published by the UK Prime Minister’s Office and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sports (DCMS) on Thursday, 13th August. However, according to the official statement, this measure isn’t applicable for sectors within the likes of West Yorkshire, Lancashire and Greater Manchester where locally implemented restrictions are still in place.

Initially, land-based casinos had been scheduled for a reopening date of 1st August, but the government backtracked on that decision after a spike in new Coronavirus cases was recorded right before the casinos resumed operations. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was consequently forced to pause the reopening for 2 more weeks, thereby dealing a hefty blow to the England casino industry as they had been waiting eagerly to get back to business.

BGC Fought Tooth & Nail for the “Belated” Reopening

As good as this news is, the UK casino industry is late to the party especially if you compare it to other regions such as the USA where states started to reopen casinos as far back as late May and early June. This means that the land-based casino sector in England is roughly 10 weeks behind other gaming markets across the globe.

The BGC (Betting and Gaming Council), UK’s gambling industry trade association had cautioned the government several times of impending doom of the industry in the wake of the delays. BGC started calling out the government early last month by penning an open letter through its CEO, Michael Dugher emphasizing that England’s casinos are ready to get back to contributing to the country’s economy. This was after bingo halls and other non-essential hospitality establishment got the thumbs up to start taking in patrons on the 4th of July.

Last week, on top of calling on the government to let casinos resume operations, the BGC also petitioned for the extension of the Job Retention scheme which had been launched to cushion casinos from the impact of the pandemic. According to the industry trade body, the 2-week extension on closures ended up costing casinos £14 million more, and thus, an extension of the furlough scheme was crucial to prevent the scales from tipping over against casino operators.

A Defining Moment for UK’s Casino Sector

After the reopening announcement, the BGC came forward to express its relief for England’s casino industry given that the jobs of about 12,000 staffers in the sector were hanging by a thread. In a statement through its CEO, the BGC also voiced its disappointment in how long it took the government to permit casinos to reopen, yet they had been cleared by the office of the Public Health England;

“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.”

Besides, even with the reopening, CEO Michael Dugher appealed to the English casinos to stay sharp as the industry isn’t out of the woods yet. He indicated that the coming months are particularly vital for bringing back the tourism, leisure, and hospitality industry in the UK snap back in pre-pandemic shape.

Meanwhile, brick and mortar casinos in Scotland and Wales are still missing in action, but the Scottish Government has given them a 24th August Reopening date.