Casinos Cannot Reopen Until At Least 15th August

Boris Johnson has announced casinos cannot reopen as originally planned for the 1^st August, instead they have to wait until at least 15^th August?It was announced last month that more indoor businesses could reopen on the 1^st August and this included Casinos, bowling alleys and cinemas in a gradual easing of the lockdown restrictions in the UK.

Why Casinos?

The decision is somewhat baffling as betting shops were able to reopen their doors on 15^th June and bingo clubs welcomed customers back on the 4^th July, so why are casinos still closed.Boris said, “ We simply cannot take the risk, we will continue to study the data carefully and move forward with our intention to open up as soon as we can.” ??

Casinos Have Implemented Strict Safety Measures

Since all casinos were forced to close their doors in March they have since worked tirelessly to make their venues safe for customers to return. The new measures follow the strict government guidelines on covid safety including social distancing, hand sanitisers throughout and offering customers masks, perspex screens and thorough cleaning regimes implemented.The casino industry generates millions in tax per year and employs thousands of staff all of which are still on furlough. Michael Dugher, chief executive for the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has criticised the government on the lack of clarity on opening casinos calling it ‘inconsistent and nonsensical’ to keep doors closed.In a twitter post Dugher said, “ There is no evidence that casinos are ‘high risk venues’ + what happened to the governments local lockdown strategy? Why should a casino business remain closed in Bristol in the south west where cases are low, because there’s a spike in greater Manchester? Bid threat to jobs.”