Important Update: Boris Johnson has declared yesterday that the reopening of casinos in the UK will not take place on the 1st of August, as initially planned, but will be delayed by at least a fortnight, in order to control the Covid situation better:
“On Saturday 1 August, you’ll remember, we had hoped to reopen in England a number of higher-risk settings that had remained closed,” Johnson announced, “Today, I am afraid we are postponing these changes for at least a fortnight.”
“Casinos, bowling alleys, skating rinks, and remaining close contact services must remain closed. Indoor performances will not resume.“
The UK government has given the green light for land-based casinos to reopen on the 1st of August 2020. The subject of Casino Reopenings following the Covid-19 crisis has been on the mind of hundreds of gamblers for the past months, since casinos and other venues were shut down by law on May 20th. But what will things look like once casinos and other gambling venues do reopen? CasinoHawks will take a look at the situation in this brief article.
UK Casino Reopenings during Covid-19
The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has lobbied a lot for this move, and chief executive Michael Dungher has expressed his satisfaction with this news:
“After four long months of lockdown, it’s fantastic to see casinos will reopen safely for business again on 1 August, […] BGC casino members went the extra mile to meet strict Covid guidelines some weeks ago but were left in the dark as to when they would be allowed to reopen”.
Casinos will be the last gambling venues to reopen in England, after betting shops across the country were allowed to reopen on the 15th of June, whereas Bingo Halls reopened on the 4th of July. The latter date had initially been understood to include casinos, and had caused a surge of disappointment across operators when this turned out not to be the case!
Covid-19 measures – what to expect
If you intend to head to a land-based casinos once the sector reopens, you should be aware of a number of measures that will have to be complied with. Things will not be exactly the same as they were at your last visit for sure, but we think that overall the measures make sense. Amongst them:
- seating and table areas will be sanitised before and after use;
- table game chips will be sanitised;
- customers will have to play at only one table and must sanitise their hands both before and after leaving the table;
- masks and coverings will be optional for customers;
- capacity limits and other social distancing measures will be enforced.
This casino reopening plan and corresponding measures are applicable only within the UK; the Scottish and Welsh governments still need to allow for casino reopenings.
Which casinos in the will reopen on August 1st?
Although we haven’t found lots of information about each and every casino, it seems that most of them are planning to reopen as soon as they’re allowed to. As Genting Casino has announced on its site,
“We have been preparing for our re-opening date for several weeks now and have introduced a raft of measures to ensure our premises are safe for both colleagues and customers. We are really looking forward to finally being able to welcome our customers back.
Our three casinos in Scotland will remain closed until the Scottish government allow for them to re-open.”
The famous Grosvenor Casino, on the other hand, has announced that it plans to open 44 gambling venues across England on August 1st. Similarly, the Hippodrome in London’s West End will also reopen on the same day, and we expect most casinos to follow suit.