Maryland governor orders state’s casinos to be closed
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s decision to close that state’s casinos Sunday will affect three Las Vegas companies.
Hogan announced that all casinos, race tracks and simulcast betting facilities in the state would be closed Monday for an indefinite period in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment Corp. and Golden Entertainment Inc. will be affected by the closures.
“These are unprecedented actions in an extraordinary situation, but they could be the difference in saving lives and keeping people safe,” Hogan said in a statement on the governor’s website.
Hogan said his emergency order takes effect at midnight and will remain in effect “until the state of emergency has been terminated or until superseded by other orders.”
MGM’s 308-room MGM National Harbor property, which opened in 2016, has Maryland’s largest casino floor — about the size of the Orleans casino in Las Vegas — with more than 3,000 slot machines and 165 table games. The resort, in Oxon Hill, also has a 3,000-seat theater that has hosted big-name entertainers and boxing since the property opened.
Caesars partners with Cleveland-based Jack Entertainment LLC on the Horseshoe Casino Baltimore, the second-largest casino in the state with more than 2,000 slot machines and 178 tables.
Golden Entertainment, operator of the Strat, Arizona Charlies’ and the PT’s Pub chain of taverns in Southern Nevada, owns the Rocky Gap Casino Resort in Flintstone. Rocky Gap has one of the smallest casinos in the state with more than 600 slots and 18 tables.
Representatives of the companies were not immediately available to comment on the status of employees.
Maryland was the sixth state to order its casinos closed in an effort to slow the advancement of the virus. Regulators in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois and Massachusetts ordered casino resorts closed for at least two weeks.
Macao was the first location to try the closure strategy, shuttering 41 casinos in that city in mid-February.
Three Indian tribes in Southern California voluntarily closed their resorts Sunday as a precaution. The San Manuel Casino in Highland, the Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula and Harrah’s Resort Southern California in Valley Center are planning closures through the end of March. Harrah’s, owned by the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians, is managed by Caesars Entertainment.
In Nevada, the Nevada Gaming Commission has no plans to close the state’s 440 licensed nonrestricted casino properties. The commission is next scheduled to meet Thursday.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.
