Caesars Entertainment will reopen Bally’s Las Vegas on July 23, marking the company’s fifth hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip to fully restart operation since Nevada’s mid-March closure of the gaming industry due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Previously, the company reopened Paris Las Vegas – which is connected via an indoor pedestrian promenade – on June 18.
Caesars CEO Tony Rodio said in a statement Thursday the company continues to see “solid customer interest in visiting Las Vegas this summer.”
Rodio said Caesars, which reopened Caesars Palace Las Vegas, Flamingo Las Vegas, and Harrah’s Las Vegas on June 4 and June 5 – the first days that gaming resumed in Nevada – capped hotel occupancy at our other reopened Las Vegas properties.
“Opening another casino resort, rather than increasing hotel occupancy caps, better supports our enhanced focus on health and safety at this time,” Rodio said.
Caesars has also reopened the gaming floor and other amenities – but not the hotel – at Linq resort, as well as the Linq Promenade, High Roller Observation Wheel, the Fly Linq zipline, and the Eiffel Tower viewing deck at Paris Las Vegas.
At Bally’s, the company will open several bars and eateries, a new lounge that overlooks the casino floor, and the Blu Pool.
The reopening of Bally’s comes as Caesars announced plans to require all of the company’s Clark County employees to get tested for COVID-19 this month. Company spokesman Richard Broome told the Las Vegas Review-Journal the decision was based on the recent increases in positive coronavirus cases across Southern Nevada’s Clark County. The mandatory testing program began on June 29.
“We thought mandatory testing would be a good way to identify employees who might be positive for COVID-19 without knowing it (i.e. asymptomatic) and wouldn’t realize they could be spreading the virus at work,” Broome said in an email. “The number of cases was much lower when we started reopening properties on June 4.”
Employees will be removed from the work schedule if they fail to get tested by July 17, Broome said.
Caesars has had at least four cases of COVID-19 among its workforce, including two at Flamingo, one at the Guy Fieri restaurant inside the Linq Resort and another at Caesars Palace, who died.
Caesars Entertainment was named in a lawsuit filed by the Las Vegas Culinary Workers Union over worker safety. Last week, Rodio, in a message to company employees, told the workforce they could be fired if they didn’t wear a mask or face covering while on the job.
In June, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak made face coverings or masks mandatory for anyone in a public place, including a casino.
Caesars has reopened most of its regional casinos and hotels across the country. In Las Vegas, the company still has three closed properties – Cromwell, Planet Hollywood, and Rio. In a statement, Caesars said will open its remaining Las Vegas properties “in line with customer demand, regulatory requirements, and any additional health and safety considerations.”
Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgaming.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.
