The regulatory board required detailed health safety plans from resort owners before giving the go-ahead to reopen. “I’m optimistic that customers will see that gaming properties invested time and effort to welcome them back to a safe and entertaining environment,” state Gaming Control Board chief Sandra Douglass Morgan said Wednesday.

They’re betting that safety measures - disinfected dice hand sanitizer and face masks limited numbers of players at tables temperature checks at entrances to some resorts touchless cellphone check-ins - will lure tourists back. Property owners, state regulators and Sisolak, a Democrat who has been criticized for the closure, balanced health concerns against the loss of billions of dollars a month in gambling revenue and unemployment that topped 28% during an idled April. Steve Sisolak’s emergency order closed nonessential businesses to prevent the spread of COVID-19. “This is an extremely important moment.”Ĭasino resorts were shuttered March 17 after Gov. “There’s a tremendous amount on the line, not only for casinos, but for the community and the state,” said Alan Feldman, a longtime casino executive who is now a fellow at the International Gaming Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. There are big hopes for recovery from an unprecedented and expensive shutdown. Even a bartender dancing on top of a bar in lingerie was donning a face mask. After guests had their temperatures checked at the door, the casino was quickly crowded with revelers and gamblers, while the dealers wore face masks or shields.

The D Hotel and Casino, one of Stevens’ two downtown properties, had several dozen people waiting in line for the doors to open shortly after midnight. Hotel-casinos in downtown and suburban Las Vegas were the first to open at 12:01 a.m., to be followed later in the morning by a restart of the iconic Bellagio fountain and several resorts on the Las Vegas Strip. “We are excited to get our employees back to work and to welcome guests to the entertainment capital of the world.”

“The past few months have presented our city with an unprecedented challenge,” said Derek Stevens, owner of two downtown Las Vegas casinos that were shuttered along with all gambling establishments in March. Cards are being dealt, dice are rolling and slot machines flashed and jingled for the first customers who started gambling again early Thursday in Las Vegas and throughout Nevada.

The casino coronavirus closure has ended.

Las vegas opens casinos