The Covid-19 coronavirus has effectively quarantined the nation's gaming industry.
More than three dozen states with commercial casinos or Indian gaming facilities have taken actions to suspend casino operations, enacted limitations that led to a shutdown, or have seen gaming companies and tribal leaders independently close their properties.
By late Tuesday, MGM Resorts International — one of the nation's leading gaming companies — will no longer have a casino property in operation in the U.S.
"We're clearly entering uncharted territory here with casino closures," SunTrust Bank gaming analyst Barry Jonas said in an email Monday.
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Colorado, and Mississippi have seen their governors or state gaming regulators order temporary closures.
MGM on Monday closed the Borgata in Atlantic City after Governor Phil Murphy's directive and later decided to suspend operations at Beau Rivage and Gold Strike in Mississippi ahead of Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves' edict to do so.
The coronavirus has silenced MGM's 20 properties in the U.S., including 13 in Las Vegas. Some 70,000 MGM employees in the U.S. were sidelined while 30,000 slot machines and 1,400 table games went unplayed.
On Sunday, MGM and Wynn Resorts said they were voluntarily closing more than a dozen Las Vegas Strip properties to help stem the viral outbreak that has gripped the nation.
"Given that there isn't a mandate for Las Vegas casinos to close yet, I think it speaks strongly about MGM and Wynn management protecting both its employees and customers; though at a certain point there may not be a commercial argument to stay open," Jonas said.
MGM is far from alone in its pain.
Through Monday, Penn National Gaming has closed 24 casinos in 11 states, impacting more than 17,325 employees. The company has 41 gaming properties in 19 states. CEO Jay Snowden said Penn will pay its full-time workers through the end of March.
Over the weekend, Boyd Gaming Corp. closed five casinos in four states. Monday's actions in Mississippi and Louisiana means another four properties will be closed for a company that has 29 casinos in 10 states.
Eldorado Resorts closed 10 casinos in seven states, including three properties each in Mississippi and Louisiana.
Meanwhile, more than a dozen states with casinos have yet to shut down operations. On the Las Vegas Strip, many casino operators are closing amenities, such as retail outlets, restaurants, swimming pools, nightclubs, and lounges — or reducing operating hours — in order to reduce staffing levels.
"The clear question now becomes how long can the entire industry stay in business with casinos closed (or even open) while coronavirus dictates our daily lives," Jonas said.
Layoffs and furloughs becoming a concern in Las Vegas and other markets
American Gaming Association CEO Bill Miller said state governments and elected leaders need to support casino workers and the ancillary businesses that will "bear the brunt" of the shutdowns.
"In a matter of days, the U.S. casino industry went from a growing, thriving segment of the U.S. economy to a near standstill," Miller said in an emailed statement. "We are witnessing a rapidly increasing number of our nation's commercial and tribal casinos that have been shuttered, impacting 40 percent of all casino employees. This will have a dire effect in the communities in which we operate across 43 states. Our immediate priorities are actions that provide liquidity to allow us to support employees."
Nevada Congresswoman Dina Titus, the co-chairwoman of the Congressional Gaming Caucus, whose district includes the Las Vegas Strip, said employees in the gaming capital are facing uncertain times.
"The Strip will not be the same for now, but it will come back stronger," Titus said. "This will get worse before it gets better, but it will get better. Our city is a resilient one and soon we will prove that once again."
Financial hit
On Monday, the Dow's nearly 3,000-point decline and President Donald Trump's declaration that coronavirus could last until July or August frightened both the investment community and gaming leaders.
"It is amazing how quickly this country has talked its way into a potential recession and brought the gaming industry to a temporary halt," said Global Market Advisors partner Brendan Bussmann.
The market declines were stunning in many senses. MGM stock lost 33.61% of its stock value to close at $10.25. Penn National was down 44.8% to close at $8.54. Boyd Gaming's value dropped 29.34% to close at $10.84.
The $17.3 billion merger between Eldorado Resorts and Caesars Entertainment has several analysts pondering whether the plan to close the deal in first half of this year is still possible. Eldorado fell 24.37% to $13.78 while Caesars was down 28.39% to $6.08.
Several companies began drawing down unused credit lines to help cover costs, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Caesars Entertainment said it has fully drawn the remaining available capacity under three credit facilities, totaling more than $1.15 billion in debt. Churchill Downs told creditors it was drawing down $700 million in debt while Penn National borrowed the remaining $430 million of its credit line.
"The company elected to draw down the remaining available funds... to ensure it maintains ample financial flexibility in light of the spread of coronavirus," Penn said in the filing.
Deutsche Bank gaming analyst Carlo Santarelli said the discussions around gaming companies will soon cover liquidity and capital resources "and the ability to stem the tide of the closures."
Yeah this is ill I knew as soon as they said they 3 Casinos here in Detroit were shutting down its was about go be a landslide in the economy...ike Everyone else I'm just sitting back waiting like
Maybe this is good for the casino industry? There seems to be WAY too many casinos in most states, so a shakeup could be good. In Delaware alone there are 3, plus one near Ocean City Md which is not far from Delaware. The population for Delaware is a little less than 1 mil.
MD has plenty and is talking about adding slots to the Preakness horse racing track. (unless they already have them? I dont go there)
I know NY just added a bunch of casinos way outside of NYC. They already had most of the major city's/metro area's covered for casinos.
This way the ones that survive can offer more and better things for players.
Oh, and we BETTER NOT hear about a bailout for this industry
Got my notice of cancellation from for my trip to Vegas on Wednesday 3-18. They advise me that that my reservation is "automatically cancelled" due to the current outbreak. Course they want to "credit" me for 90 days, to which I requested a full refund.
Then 2 days later they send me a notice saying this,
"We apologize for the delay in response. Due to current events we are experiencing a high volume of communications resulting in longer than normal hold times and response times for emails. Currently there are no cancellation fees for your vacation package. However, there is the potential of a cancellation penalty with the hotel if the booking has not been cancelled by March 26th. To cancel or change the reservation, it is recommended to call our reservations center at 1-800-blah blah blah. We are currently experiencing longer than usual hold times, but we do advise continuing to hold the line to ensure you are answered and you do not lose your place. We apologize if this causes any inconvenience. If we can be of any further assistance, please let us know.
Hey geniuses,which one is it ? Fully cancelled or now partially cancelled ?
Instead of going to a casino, I would assume people would just play their state's lottery games? I use a automatic vending machine with vinyl gloves on to touch the buttons. I stay away from the clerks, & patrons there. Thankfully, no one was in line behind me!
AND
Pennsylvania closed all of the lottery offices!
SO, if you win a large jackpot, how do you collect?
People will start ( if they haven't already ) , saving $$$$ , paying off bills ,
continue to look for groceries , etcccc.
Even if somebody won the lottery , doubt they could get their money at the
normal time.
Jason Kurland | The Lottery Lawyer | Attorney for Jackpot Winners
Let him handle the theatrics of claiming the ticket for you. Put it in his hands.
Just left there from a Strip Hotel on Thursday morning. Please Pray
for those workers in L.V. , my Taxi driver that took me to the Airport said
"Your my first ride all day." He was in line since 7 am. Picked me up at 10 am.
~Keep the Peace~ Gg
We went to Caesars Southern Indiana seven days ago saying they were closing and would comp us for Jack Binion's. Were sort of near there doing taxes (and refund came already!) so we did go there. The employees told us they would get paid while closed for what was then two weeks. Will find out if the state keeps them closed if they still got paid the whole time. I think not.
Thankfully still no kids in my former job @ PICU on ventilators with Coronavirus. We've had that (genus) virus before, but not this particular strain. As many of you know, I would hope, that all viruses, like bacteria mutate.
Hello everyone! I work for MGM Grand Detroit as a Heavy Porter Cleaner. Because of my seniority I did not get laid off as of now. I am part of a crew of cleaners who is doing heavy cleaning throughout the property. We are using this time to clean, disinfect all areas in the building. It's a lot of work! This Covid-19 is only temporary. This too shall pass!! We as Americans and the world will survive this!!🇺🇸
Awesome, glad you're still employed and thanks for the information "on the ground" there. Stay safe!
Thanks Todd you too!😊
Casinos, all forms of gambling are ceased in my house ... hold on to your money folks, casinos aren't going anywhere, casinos are ready to make up their billion dollar losses when its over! Take this this time to bank up, pay down, pay off debt, use wisdom.
In Texas, you can now redeem by mail a prize up to $5mil. However, anything over that you would have to make an appointment.
Just fyi. A couple of medical professionals indicated to me their best guess was late April for the quarantine to be lifted. Just a guess.
By the way, if one of us wins a jp, the lottery ticket can be validated at a local store to prevent one from missing a deadline? Right?
I'm not familiar alot with east coast delaware, nj borderline over there or the part of) de.,closer to md., at all
but a friend of mine out of california, just moved for a great job offer $ and her fiancee' michael for a while now,
go to a casino in nj and de most but nowand i didn't know you're able to play online? I think they said
delaware allow you casino real playing on line, or New Jersey,but wow. i am like, that's awesome!
How i wish NC will (1 day) i hope let us all play casino games online.
I know what you mean. A lot of states are saying to mail them in, even for the bigger non-jackpot prizes. Like I'd trust the USPS with that! I suppose you can FedEx it if you trust FedEx more than the post office. But the ticket validators are all furloughed until further notice, so what's the point. I think they should just extend the claim deadlines by the length of the quarantine.
Hhhmmmm late April sounds correct, a video game is getting released on 3-30 , 54% off.
Not good @ dates of things, but certainly it is somewhere in LP postings. A man mailed a multi-million dollar ticket from N. NJ..Newark area I think instead of driving to Trenton. It got there in there in the nick of time. Article said his wife wasn't too happy with him when she found out!
You have a good memory! That story was on USA Mega back on June 15, 2001. (Back then the website was called BigGameLottery.com.)
Although the links on the stories no longer function, you can see the historical page at USA Mega here: https://www.usamega.com/archive-062001.htm (scroll down to June 15th).
That was before Lottery Post began publishing news stories, and the page at USA Mega demonstrates why I shifted to Lottery Post for publishing news stories: If I continued relying on just posting links to other sources, I could never ensure the news stories would still be available years later. By publishing news at Lottery Post, I could ensure that news stories would remain available forever, allowing people to research any lottery-related topic.
Purchased in Montvale, NJ. The New York Times had the article, didn't remember that it was the seven state BIG GAME though prior to Mega Millions! Guess you could say he was really pushing the envelope.
The newest from the Tennessee Lottery Homepage....No explanation...Just(scratching head)...because,.I guess
https://www.tnlottery.com/
The pa site has extremely vague instructions during this shut down. Funny that they aren't delaying keeping all funds. Wolfe is notorious for 'stealing', I mean umm...utilizing the funds from lottery for other departments. I'm sure he'll justify this funds taking for tending to the elderly programs. Which have not to this date benefitted any of my senior relatives.
It makes sense to close casinos..it's constant jumping from machines or touching cards. Never mind the Lulu's who bring there good luck charms waving them at the machines. Silly.
You and I both know that Comrade Wolf is a thief!