Betting and Gaming Council urge Government to allow casinos to re-open
The chair of the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), Michael Dugher, has urged the Government to urgently work with them in order to re-open casinos as soon as possible.
Casinos still unable to re-open
The BGC described the Government’s decision to keep land-based casinos closed as ‘inconsistent and nonsensical’, as the Prime Minister announced the list of businesses permitted to open again on 4th July, which included bars, restaurants, hairdressers and theatres.
The BGC’s chair, Michael Dugher, has now pleaded with the Government to work with them urgently in order for casinos to re-open, saying they are prepared to take whatever measures required in order to satisfy the Governments concerns.
New anti-coronavirus measures in place in casinos
In anticipation for re-opening, casinos have already been preparing their venues to ensure optimum safety for both players and staff, and have already undertaken several new measures to comply with guidance. These include:
- Re-arranging the casino floors so that social distancing can be met and there is less chance of germs spreading
- Customers to enter the building one at a time
- Any queues formed will be done so with social distancing measures in place
- All ATMs will be disinfected at least every hour
- All slot machine and gaming stations will be disinfected after each gaming session
- Thorough deep cleaning of venues
- Masks to be provided if required
- Hand sanitiser to be used upon enter and leaving the building as well as each time a player joins or leaves a gambling table
Tax contributions
Despite casinos undertaking these huge changes to ensure safety, there is still no firm date when they can re-open. The BGC were also keep to remind the Government that land-based casinos alone, contribute over £300miilion each year to the UK economy and provide over 14,000 jobs, so in everyone’s interest, they wanted to initiate talks with the Government to find out how they can reach an agreement and more importantly, a firm date for casinos to re-open.
