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Nevada Drops Mask Wearing Requirements on Casino Floors
By Jeff Osienya May 16, 2021 IndustryNevada’s gaming ombudsman has officially dropped its strict mast-wearing policy on casino floors. Gaming facilities in Sin City, Reno, and the wider Nevada state area are already welcoming patrons without requiring them to wear masks.Casino facilities in The Silver State have announced that casino staffers and patrons are no longer required to wear masks on casino floors. The Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) announced the mask-wearing policy changes last week, right after the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) introduced new guidance. This shift officially marks another significant step towards a post-pandemic future in the USA’s gaming world as gaming revenue continues with its tremendous comeback.
On Thursday, the CDC affirmed that fully vaccinated individuals against the novel Coronavirus are now allowed to move around without wearing a mask or any other form of facial covering in public. Following the CDC’s latest guidance, the NGCB, Nevada’s gaming regulator, chimed in by revising the Emergency Directive 045 that Governor Steve Sisolak signed on May 3rd, 2021. Part of the updated directive, as announced by Brin Gibson, the Chairperson of the NGCB, reads:
Quote“The Board neither requires nor prohibits gaming licensees from confirming patron vaccination status. Licensees are encouraged to post signage with the latest CDC mask guidance for vaccinated and unvaccinated guests. The Board’s agents will not attempt to confirm vaccination status of patrons. Consequently, unless circumstances change, it is not practical for the Board to attempt to enforce a mask mandate tethered to an individual’s vaccination status."
By revising the mask-wearing regulations in casinos, the Silver State’s gaming control board is following Gov. Sisolak’s directive of aligning the state’s gaming operations with CDC guidelines. Further, the NGCB also gave gaming facilities the leeway to introduce their own mask-wearing policies as they saw fit on their casino floors. On this matter, the updated Emergency Directive 045 states:
Quote“Licensees may have mask policies that are more restrictive than the CDC guidance. Staff should consult with their employers regarding workplace Covid-19 safety protocols. To be clear, however, a private employer’s policies regarding Covid-19 safety protocol are not Board policies.”
For clarification purposes, a person is considered fully vaccinated against the novel Coronavirus two weeks after receiving the second shot of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines. On the other hand, for the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, individuals are regarded as fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving only one dose.
Gaming Operators Have Already Launched Mask-Free Operations
Earlier this month, Nevada’s gaming regulator allowed casinos to get back to 100% floor occupancy, provided that 80% of employees had received the first vaccine shot. Now that the previously strict mask-wearing policy has been shelved, gaming in Nevada is almost getting back to what it was before. Following the NGCB update, casino operators in the Silver State immediately dropped their mask-wearing requirements.
Downtown Las Vegas casino resorts owned by Derek Stevens – D Las Vegas, The Golden Gate, and Circa Resort were among the first to implement new regulations. In these properties, fully vaccinated visitors are now allowed into the gaming floors without wearing any covering in the face. Additionally, casino staffers who have also been fully vaccinated aren’t required to serve customers with masks. Still, in downtown Las Vegas, TLC Casino Enterprises’ property, the Four Queens Hotel and Casino, is letting vaccinated patrons enter the facility without face coverings.
The Cosmopolitan, MGM Resorts, and Wynn Resorts also joined the pack in letting inoculated patrons enter onto the gaming floors mask-free. Likewise, the Palazzo and The Venetian are also letting fully vaccinated customers play without having to wear masks.
Caesars Entertainment is also among the operators with updated floor policies in its Las Vegas Strip properties – The Flamingo, Caesars Palace, Paris Las Vegas, and Planet Hollywood. In these gaming facilities, staffers and employees who are fully vaccinated can go mask-free. Caesars has, however, retained the mask-wearing restriction for employees who haven’t been fully vaccinated. The same rules are also the case in Caesars Entertainment’s casino resorts in downtown Reno, i.e., Circus Circus, Silver Legacy, and Eldorado.
Other Reno properties that have jumped into the mask-free bandwagon for fully vaccinated patrons include the Peppermill resort Spa, Grand Sierra Resort, and the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa.
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