Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak announced that all non-essential business will be shut down due to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak. That decree particularly included shutting down all casinos including adjacent shops and restaurants for 30 days. Social distancing is the most effective way to slow down the spread of the virus, much to the dismay of gambling enthusiasts. At least Nevada residents have online options, but nothing in the virtual world can ever compare to the glitz and glamour of Sin City.
Wars, terrorist attacks, fires, shootings, grasshoppers... it seems that whatever has been thrown at Las Vegas, the gambling mecca in the Nevada desert always seems to rise above the fray and conquer whatever obstacles are thrown in its way. But right now, an unprecedented moment is occurring all over the planet. Something so big, it even shut down Las Vegas for 30 days.
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) shut down modern society as the outbreak ravages cities and countries, and after it reached Nevada, it was only a matter of time before the adults in the room decided it was time to pull the plug on the glorious gambling machine that had never been halted before. It finally took a pandemic to shut down every casino property up and down Las Vegas Blvd... from the Strip to downtown... and Reno too. All of Nevada... every casino shutdown for a month. Las Vegas... under lockdown. Surreal and unprecedented indeed.
30 days. Vegas and all the casinos... shut down for 30 days.
It's nearly impossible to have real world news penetrate the Las Vegas gambling bubble and the ubiquitous attitude of "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" in adult Disneyworld, but word of the pandemic finally woke people up. Once all the US sports league shut down and Tom Hanks announced he caught the contagious bug, most Americans began to take the news seriously as a domestic issue instead of a sad tale on the other side of the world.
Sin City sells escapism and very few other places on the planet encourages new visitors to lose the freakin' minds and spend every cent in their pockets on everything they could possible imagine. Vegas is the pinnacle of consumerism and gross excess and a ginormous pit of libidinous greed, which makes it so awesome and dirty at the same time. Casinos represent self-disaster capitalism at its finest with people lining up to hand over their money.
Vegas is a town that takes completely sane and highly intelligent people and turns them sideways in a matter of hours. One wrong step and you lose control in the worst place you should be when you have zero inhibitions and poor judgement. Mistakes were made. Gamble it up. Chow it down. Slurp it up. Knock it down. Snort it up. Double down. Hit me once. Hit me again. Can I borrow a dime? Let's call the "guy" again. Just one more orbit. One more shoe. Another buffet. Another roll. Another toke. One last hand. One more spin. One more whiff. One more toot.
It's about time someone shut down Sin City. Thy name be Coronavirus.
30 days. Unreal.
Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak finally made the decision to close all non-essential business and restaurants including casinos for 30 days. I mean, especially casinos. If you leave the doors open, gamblers will sill show up even during a pandemic.
Over the weekend, Gov. Sisolak shut down all the schools until April 6.
Several properties on the Strip had already made the decision to shut down after St. Patrick's Day. That included the Wynn and the MGM Grand and their numerus properties.
The city of Reno closed bars and restaurants, but casinos remained opened until now.
Daniel Negreanu had called for all poker rooms in America to shut down because we all know about dingy poker rooms, sloppy poker players, and how chips are outright nasty, even at the classier joints.
