In a conference call on August 30, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo implied that some of the commercial casinos in New York might reopen soon. 

From September 9, New York state’s casinos will resume their operations after a 6 months long shutdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic. New York is the worst-hit state in the country due to Covid-19. Infections and the fatalities are growing exponentially when compared to any other state in the USA. It was March 16 when the whole state of NY was shut down. To date, many businesses, small or large, have suffered huge losses and have laid off several employees.

The authorities have given permission to reopen New York’s commercial casinos including del Lago (Seneca County), Resorts World Catskills (Sullivan County), Tioga Downs (Tioga County), and Rivers Casino (Schenectady). However, there is a restriction of a maximum capacity of 25%. Moreover, everyone entering the casino is required to wear a mask. The casino operators are instructed to maintain at least 6 feet distance between the slot machines available. The table games are not approved by the state yet. But the casinos will make a plea again after ensuring a necessary social distancing between individual players.

This reopening is only in context with the commercial casinos. As the tribal gaming operators are the state’s sovereign entities, they don’t fall under these restrictions and they already re-started operations in June. However, the casino owners pushed the authorities to accept the re-open proposal in the wake of saving around thousands of jobs. Everyone is hoping for a recovery in the economy, even if it is a sedate one.

In what could be considered an important development in Thailand, a politician has been pushing for legalizing gambling. It could be translated into an attractive opportunity for the casino industry given the government approves the suggestion. More importantly, it will be a win-win condition for all the stakeholders, including the government, to benefit from additional tax revenue from the gambling industry.

Finer Details

The legislator, Mongkolkit Suksintharanon, has emphasized on opening the economy for gambling. He says that the government committee should accept the proposal of opening entertainment complexes in the country, that should be conceptualized to host different recreational activities, including gambling. The legislator also proposed that these complexes come in popular tourist destinations, including Bangkok, Rayong, Nakhon Ratchasima, and Phuket.

Financial Sense

Stressing on the earning potential from online casinos, Suksintharanon says that many foreign casinos are operational in the country, but the government earns no tax revenue from them. He stresses that there is a need to change the official stance, and legalizing the country’s gambling activity will definitely benefit the establishment. According to the legislator’s estimate, the Thai government can earn up to 6 billion baht per year from the casinos’ taxes.

Conclusion

This emphasis on making gambling legal has come in the backdrop of a downturn in Thailand’s economy. Its primary source of revenue is tourism, and due to the COVID-19 restriction, there is a record drop in the number of people visiting the country. It will be interesting to witness how the Thailand government will respond to the legislator’s suggestion as the pressure on the establishment to spur the economy is immense. Undoubtedly, legalizing the gambling activity can help bring extra tax revenue to the government which can ease the pressure on lawmakers and people of the country.

The casino and gambling business in Las Vegas, Nevada, has taken a significant hit in 2020. The global COVID-19 pandemic has put all the Las Vegas casino and resort businesses into heavy economic losses. According to a recent survey, casinos on the Las Vegas Strip have registered a significant dip in their revenues. As of July 2020, their revenues have dropped by a whopping 39%, the value of which is estimated to be around $330 million.

Revenues of Las Vegas casinos have fallen miserably over the past few months. The nationwide lockdowns since mid-March have completely emptied all the casinos in Las Vegas. The whole city is under a massive financial debt after not receiving any footfall for over half of the year. From a year ago, the casino businesses in Las Vegas are barely running their operations, with rampant unemployment and ongoing loss of revenue still worsening their conditions.

The total casino revenues of the Nevada state in 2020 sank by 26% to a value of $756.8 million. The Nevada gambling commission officials also said the tax revenues and other virus-related expenses continue to rise, further lowering the profitability of these casinos.

Casinos and resorts dominate the contribution to Nevada’s economy. To mitigate the situation, casinos are trying to lure guests with super-cheap pricing on their hotel rooms. Even the presidential suites are being offered at a typically low price. Other entertainment options in the city are gradually reopening. While the gaming revenues are not picking up pace, casino operators are finding turnarounds with discounts and free amenities.

Top casino hotels in Las Vegas, such as MGM Grand and Caesar’s, have been unable to meet their business demand. Their price-cuts on hotel rooms are attracting only a handful of people. Serving these people at low prices is also dropping their business profitability. A majority of hotel rooms in Las Vegas have remained vacant in the past few months. Their occupancy in 2020 is not even half of what it was in 2019. In the near future, only a complete lift of the COVID-19 lockdown will open an opportunity for Las Vegas casinos to restart their business. If the pandemic continues for more months, there is a strong likelihood that several casinos and resorts in Las Vegas may have to shut their doors down permanently.

Every year, the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, is always up and running with its casinos and nightlife. However, the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has brought this populous city to a standstill. Social distancing has led all gambling, entertainment, and dining establishments in Las Vegas to stay shut for the past couple of months. Come August, the Nevada state has implemented a reopening plan for Las Vegas businesses, which would bring things back to normal in a phased manner.

However, one of the popular casino establishments in the city, Station Casinos, has plans to shut their doors for good. According to the reports, Station Casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada is likely to keep four properties closed despite the reopening. Station Casino resorts are spanned across Las Vegas in prime locations. These properties are owned by Red Rock Resorts, the parent company to Station Casinos.

According to the CEO of Red Rock Resorts, Frank Fertitta III, the company is uncertain about the future of the four Station Casino properties, namely, Fiesta Henderson, Texas Station, Fiesta Rancho, and the Palms. These establishments are less likely to reopen during the COVID-19 as Fertitta believes “it’s too early” for the company to make the decision of resuming its operations at this time of the year.

As of March 2020, the Station Casinos had temporarily closed doors to over twenty of its properties across Southern Nevada. This move was aligned to the shutdown order issued by Steve Sisolak, the Governor of Nevada. The CFO of Red Rock Resorts, Stephen Cootey, is waiting to learn more from the data on how the casino markets in Las Vegas would respond after reopening. Currently, the data hints fewer chances of healthy demand at casinos and resorts, which is why these properties would not be reopening anytime soon.

The company’s decision to keep the doors to these Station Casino properties closed is going to be in the best interests of the stakeholders’ value. Due to the pandemic, the Station Casino revenues have dropped by more than 75% from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the second quarter of 2020. In the past few months, Red Rock Resorts has suffered more than $100 million in net loss. If all properties are reopened, and there isn’t a high footfall, the company could incur millions of dollars in further losses.

The internet has brought a lot of changes with time, and the gambling industry is the one that has seen the most change. Starting at a very low rate, it is presently a multi-billion dollar industry. There are online casinos which are providing gambling and entertainment services to its customers all around the world. Here are a few advantages of online casinos.  

It’s Safe

There are a couple of reasons why people choose to play online casino games or maybe just indulged in gambling. The major reason why people are mostly choosing online casinos and gambling is security and Fairplay. So the advantage that people avail is that playing at the best online casinos makes it perfectly safe for the users to invest funds to begin playing. Some casinos aren’t trustworthy, but those are very less in number. There are reputed casinos where the players don’t have to worry about their safety.

Easy To Accessible 

The major advantage of playing online casino games is that it is very convenient to play on the go. Players can be relaxing at their homes, and there’s no need to leave their houses to go forward and play their favorite games. There is no excessive effort required to play online; all you need is a computer and an internet connection. The online casinos are 24*7 available, so it’s available for us at any hour at any given point of time.

Bonus and Rewards

A major factor that attracts a lot of us to play online is the added rewards that we can avail while we are playing. The virtual casinos offer a lot of bonuses and rewards to offer, which encourages new customers to also sign up and avail of the rewards and benefits. Particularly the bonuses offered by the online casinos are much much better and rewarding than the “comps” players usually earn while playing land-based casinos. It doesn’t matter how often the player is playing on the platform; the players do get rewarded for all their activities.       

Variety of Games

The biggest advantage of playing online casino is that the players get a plethora of games to choose from. It’s quite obvious that the land-based casinos don’t offer much variety. Be it slot games, video poker, table games, all the categories have a lot of options to choose from. A lot of online casino platforms have a variety of traditional video games as well. 

It’s quite fair to say that if you have never tried playing online, you miss out on an extraordinary experience. Online casinos have been quite popular ever since the concept came into existence, and since then, this has been the case until today.

As part of their customer service, many land-based casinos offer credit privileges or cash advances to the players. While casinos offer cash advances in a bid to increase customer loyalty, the players also benefit, especially, when they do not carry extra cash. Typically, the credit facility involves a credit marker, enabling players to withdraw money for poker or other games in the casino.

Overview of cash advances in land-based casinos

Customer loyalty is very important for not just land-based casinos, but also for online or live casinos. Online casinos offer loyalty rewards and additional bonuses in the form of a deposit bonus, welcome packs, free spins, etc. The brick and mortar casinos, on the other hand, offer cash advances to the players.

Most of the casinos offer cash advances to not only retain the existing players but to also attract new customers. In fact, certain casinos in Las Vegas have also enabled the players to use the cash advance facility even when the players do not have sufficient balance in their bank accounts.

Cash advances at a casino

Let’s consider the casinos in LA. Whenever a player runs out of cash to gamble in the casino, they can make use of the casino ATM for cash advances. All they need to do is, acquire a “slip” from the ATM by making use of either their credit or debit card. When the players show this “slip” to the cage cashier, they either receive a cash advance, or equivalent casino chips, which they can use for poker or other games in the casino.

Casino debit and credit card cash advance

Your credit or debit card is the key to obtain the “slip” from the casino’s ATM. In instances when players do not carry sufficient cash or do not have the required bank balance, they can make use of their credit cards. Nevertheless, the cash advance fee and the rate of interest are quite hefty when you use credit cards.

How does cash advance work?

A cash advance is a short-term loan you may acquire using your credit card. In other words, you borrow money against your credit card’s credit line, which you need to pay within the specified timeframe. The fee involved is also hefty along with heavy interest rates, which varies from one bank to another.

Cash advances offer by Las Vegas casino

The less expensive alternative to credit card cash advance involves setting up a line of credit or check-cashing privilege at the Las Vegas casinos. Another alternative is a money transfer from your bank, which requires you to have the required balance in your bank account. Please note, the money transfer fee and casino charges still apply.

Surprisingly, players prefer to frequent casinos that have a cash advance facility. It is for this reason, most of the casinos in Las Vegas not only have ATMs, but they make sure to upgrade them for seamless cash advance services.

Conclusion

In a bid to retain existing customers and to attract new players, casinos offer cash advance against the player’s credit or debit card. In fact, players prefer to visit casinos with a cash advance facility as they may not always carry additional cash.

On May 26, 2020, Nevada Governor Stephen Sisolak gave the go-ahead for the state’s gambling venues to reopen on June 4, 2020, capping off 78 days of unprecedented lockdown that started on March 17, 2020. Casinos will open across the state with social distancing regulations and other health and safety measures in place.

Big names that are reopening under the Phase II of the state’s recovery program on Thursday, June 4 include

• 19 Boyd Gaming properties—Fremont, Cannery, Aliante, Joker’s Wild, Sam’s Town, and Suncoast to name a few
• Caesars Entertainment—Flamingo
• MGM Resorts—New York-New York, MGM Grand, The Signature, and Bellagio
• Sahara—Green Valley Ranch, Boulder Station, Red Rock, Santa Fe Station, Sunset Station, and Palace Station
• Wynn Las Vegas—Wynn and Encore
• The Cosmopolitan
•  El Cortez
•  Ellis Island
• Golden Nugget
•  The Plaza,
• Circus Circus
•  Station Casinos
•  Silverton
•  South Point
•  The Strat
•  Tuscany Suites

Keep Vegas Rolling Says Stevens

Another big name planning to reopen on June 4 is the D Las Vegas and Golden Gate Hotel-Casino owned by Derek Stevens. Along with the casino reopening announcement, the Vegas-based multimillionaire also unveiled his “Keep America Flying” promotion that intends to reboot the tourism and airline sector, while reinforcing the idea of the fun and excitement to be experienced in Las Vegas.

Stevens is planning to give away nearly 1,000 free one-way carriers to the Sin City from around 20 major US cities on a number of low-cost airlines to coincide with his reopening plans. Entrants can sign up at theD.com to book a seat on an FCFS basis. Stevens further added he and his team were looking forward to safely bring visitors to Las Vegas and want to get them to experience the amenities and attractions of the glitzy city.

Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Sands Casino, to name a few naturally come to mind when you think of a traditional or a land-based casino. And, when you consider the crowd that frequents the casinos, it is the folks looking for recreational getaways or the ones preferring the party or social scene.

However, with the impending coronavirus outbreak and the COVID-19 pandemic that has called for social distancing, the online casinos are quickly gaining prominence. Needless to say, the online or live casinos have their own fan following and players where the numbers far exceed that of the land-based casinos.

Although both the versions revolve around gambling, they differ greatly from one another with their own set of advantages and demerits. 

All about traditional casinos

Although there are accounts of the gambling games existing since time immemorial, the first official casino originated in Venice sometime in the 17th century. Over the years, the traditional casinos have far evolved from being associated with the rich and the privileged. Today, they are the hubs of entertainment and games, making it an ideal hotspot for socializing. 

Whether it is the allure of the slots machines or the thrill of the roulette, traditional casinos offer a glitzy interlude. While this may be true, these casinos have a standard visitor base. And, to increase the number of the player base, the popular casinos came up with their online alternatives. This paved the way for the rise of online casinos.

The rise of online casinos

Online casinos were introduced sometime in the year 1997. Since then, the internet has been gradually saturated with them. Also known as the live casinos, an online casino enables players to gamble online and play the many popular casino games like slots, poker, and other dice games. 

And, initially, while these online casinos were not trusted by many, they have now come a long way, providing a safe and secure gaming experience to players. They not only have the classic casino games but also have innovative and novel games that have attracted heavy traffic. Thus, one can say that the player base of online casinos far exceeds that of the traditional casinos.

How online casinos are gaining ground

Online casinos have gradually taken over other ventures like sportsbooks and esports or virtual sports. Rather than opting for third-party sports books, people now prefer to place bets at online casinos. 

The live casinos use RNG algorithms while their games are provably fair, making them safe for players. Apart from the many games, there are other advantages of an online casino that cannot be found in traditional casinos.

Advantages of online casinos over land-based casinos

Thousands of games are a plus where an online casino is considered alongside special features like sports betting and esports. While these are a given, the online casinos are also highly regulated by the gambling laws making them quite legal as per the respective jurisdictions. 

While traditional casinos sometimes offer free food and beverages, online casinos have loyalty rewards and other bonuses. The welcome package or the deposit bonuses, for instance, are an added advantage that you can never find at the land-based casinos. 

Blockchain technology and cryptocurrency

To gain that additional edge, online casinos are now integrating blockchain technology for its operations. Meaning, right from the transactions to the basic operations, everything is noted in the blockchains.

While the blockchain system brings in the elements of transparency and additional security, they also enable smart contracts that make transacting in online casinos faster.

Online casinos also offer the advantage of using cryptocurrencies as one of the payment options. Based on this concept, you have the Bitcoin casinos and hybrid casinos online. While Bitcoin casinos or crypto casinos enable the use of Bitcoins or other cryptos, the hybrid also has the option of FIAT currency transactions. 

What’s the future of online casinos?

Online casinos are ever-evolving and for better. With the impending COVID-19 pandemic that has shut all the traditional casinos, the visitors with a penchant for gambling are now resorting to the online casino. 

That being said, the future of the online casino industry is quite bright, with increased traffic. With many licensed and registered casinos saturating the internet, there are plenty of perks to choose from.

Conclusion

While traditional casinos have their own appeal, the current scenario has popularised online casinos. In fact, the latter is a far convenient and economical alternative to the land-based casinos. Moreover, the present social distancing need makes online casinos a better option.