On opening day Connecticut’s casinos draw modest number of visitors as Lamont warns ‘don’t gamble with your health’
Hartford CourantJun 02, 2020
Gov.
“Over 65, don’t gamble with your health,” he said of the electronic signs. “It’s not just your health. It’s the health of everybody you live with as well.”
“We tried to put some good, strong advice in place as people are on their way taking a gamble,” the governor said at his daily briefing.
The Mohegans and Mashantucket Pequots, whose tribal nations are sovereign and beyond the jurisdiction of state regulations related to the reopenings, scaled back the casino operations to make it harder for the virus to spread. The casinos do not include concerts or entertainment, poker rooms and call for restaurant take-out only and smaller capacity to enforce social distancing.
"However, we are excited to see a reasonable number of guests enjoy the property again while practicing the physical distancing measures that we have implemented and also adhering to the gaming floor limits and other safety protocols that are in place for everyone’s safety,” said
The number of visitors are modest, but represent a first step back from the first shutdown in the casinos’ history that caused a financial free-fall and high unemployment in southeastern
The Mashantucket Pequots, who own Foxwoods, say the tribe has hosted more than 330 million visitors since the casino opened in 1992, or an average of more than 32,000 a day. In the year that ended
In April, the most recent month the casinos reported financial information, revenue at Foxwoods was zero.
The closings also had a tremendous impact on the region’s economy. Nearly 36,000 jobs in the
Like their reduced operations, rehiring at the casinos will be spare.
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