Temperature scans, masks and plastic dividers: The ‘new normal’ guests can expect at Vegas casinos

LAS VEGAS – When Frankie Brown headed home after a hard day’s work at Circus Circus, she didn’t realize it would be the last time for months.

“We were expecting to be back by now, I was totally shocked. I’m like wow, it came in like a thief in the night,” Brown, a floor supervisor who has worked at Circus-Circus for 37 years, told Fox News.

That was back on March 17 when the Las Vegas Strip shut down due to COVID19 in order to help curb the spread of the deadly virus. But as the country slowly transitions to back to work, the casinos are preparing to reopen.

“It will be different. There will be a new normal. But I think we can work together to create a very ,you know, they've always talked about that only in Vegas [experience],” Gordon Prouty, Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino vice president of public relations and community affairs told Fox News. ”It will still be that experience. We just got to make sure that it's safe as well as fun.”

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak announced late last week a tentative date of June 4 for casinos to be allowed to reopen.

Each casino must submit a reopening plan at least seven days before its scheduled reopening that follows the gaming control board guidelines, including limiting capacity to 50 percent, social distancing measures, and enhanced cleaning protocols.

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“Some people may cover tables, some people may remove machines and actually redesign the floor, that will be up to them and their plan should include that. But, we will leave it to them to ensure how they're going to actually properly, socially distance,” Sandra Douglass Morgan, Nevada Gaming Control Board chairwoman told Fox News.

Fox News was given an inside look at the safety and health measures Westgate is implementing as it prepares to welcome guests back beginning June 18. The casino launched the WestgateCares Program, outlining its roadmap to reopening and pledging to share resources to help fight the spread of COVID19 as a community.

Each guest and employee will have their temperature checked at the door, chairs have been removed at every other slot machine to create proper social distance and plexiglass barriers are being utilized at the front desk and certain gaming machines.

Blackjack tables have been reduced to three people, hand sanitizer will be at each table and the dealers will be wearing masks.

“With the way that this has been set up, we have created a safe environment with the social distancing, but we’ve also done it in a way that preserves the Vegas experience and it’s fun,” Prouty said. “One of the most important things we believe in addition to the safety of our team members and our guests is that when people come here they still want that Vegas experience, they want to have that fun so we’re trying to make sure we have the proper balance of that.”

While some workers are eager to get back, others are still concerned.

“Our whole staff in general needs to be kept safe and needs to make sure all our standards our guests understand [and] lines cannot be crossed,” Michele Horter, a server at Excalibur said, adding that she thinks June is too soon to reopen.

The Culinary Union, which represents 60,000 hospitality workers, held a caravan protest earlier this month voicing their concerns and calling on the Nevada Gaming Commission to make each submitted reopening plan public. Most casinos, however, have made the plans public voluntarily.

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“We want to have prevention to protect everybody. We want to have the tests, screening the workers and guests, check the temperature to protect the entire community,” Geoconda Argüello-Kline is presently the Secretary-Treasurer for the Culinary Workers Union told Fox News. “We want to have personal protective equipment (PPE) for every single worker, we want to have masks and gloves and the steps to maintain distance.”

In addition to Westgate, MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment and Boyd Gaming will all test employees.

The gaming control board guidelines allow the individual property to develop its own plan on how to implement adequate safety and health measures, leaving room for flexibility depending on the casino. And while the majority of properties have outlined plans that seem to align with what the Culinary Union is looking for to protect workers, Argüello-Kline wants to see comprehensive legislation to address the concerns.

“We need legislation to say all this hospitality industry have to be protected with this type of guidline,” she told Fox News.

Alan Feldman, distinguished fellow at university Nevada, Las Vegas International Gaming Institute says casinos understand the magnitude of the situation and the importance of protecting the workers as well as guests in order to prevent another shutdown.

“If anyone is foolish enough to take their foot off the gas on the things that are going to make their employees or their customers feel better about being in that environment, they are risking the entire enterprise,” Feldman said. “The last thing that any of us need is to open a property and then have to close it, and then try to open it again, and God forbid, have to close it again, and by then I think it's over. So there's a lot at stake here.”

And while Gov. Sisolak’s target date of June 4 has offered a glimmer of hope in what has been a devastating few months for the Nevada economy, Feldman underscored that the process to get back to “normal” won’t happen overnight.

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“[Because} the rebuild for this is going to take longer doesn't mean it's not going to happen. It doesn't mean that we won't at some point get back to where we were and or just get back to something that resembles whatever we call normal in the future. But it's going to take time,” Feldman told Fox News, adding that “a lot is riding on this.”

The Venetian, Wynn Resorts Ltd., MGM Resorts International, Boyd Gaming Corp., and Station Casinos have all began accepting June reservations according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Casinos have opened in other states, but all eyes will be on the iconic Las Vegas Strip anxiously waiting to see if COVID19 cases spike again and how tourists react to the new experience.

“You've got to get this right. I don't know that the public is going to give you more than one shot at it,” Feldman said.