Australian Land-Based Casinos Close Due To New Covid-19 Restrictions

A few Australian states have imposed new novel coronavirus restrictions, which force land-based casinos to limit access to customers or even close their doors for a period that is supposed to last at least a couple of weeks.

New restrictions were decided by the governments of New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, due to having registered increased numbers of Covid-19 cases over the past few weeks.

In New South Wales, the government issued an extended stay-at-home order on 26 June. That means Crown Resorts will have to keep their Crown Sydney casino closed until at least 9 July, including the venue’s food and beverage and conferencing facilities.

Star Entertainment also has to keep their Star Sydney casino closed until 9 July, but the resort’s hotel will be able to operate with certain limits regarding the number of customers allowed in the facility.

The government of Western Australia has also imposed new restrictions in the Perth and Peel regions, meaning that casino operators in the state will have to suspend all gaming activities for at least three days. Crown Perth’s casino will have to remain shut for some time, but the resort’s hotel and food and beverage facilities will be able to continue their operations for now.

The government of Queensland announced that new restrictions will be imposed, with a three-day lockdown enforced in 11 areas of the state. This forced three land-based casinos in the state to suspend their operations: Treasury Brisbane, The Star Gold Coast and The Ville Resort-casino.

This means the Star Entertainment Group will have all its casinos closed for the moment as Star Sydney is also shut for at least a couple of weeks. However, Star announced it would continue to pay its employees during the closure period.

Annastacia Palaszczuk, Queensland’s prime minister, said this lockdown was absolutely necessary for the state in order to deal with the Covid-19 community transmission. “With the new Delta strain now in the Queensland community, we can’t afford to take any chances,” the prime minister said.

Source: “Three Queensland casinos suspend operations as Australian COVID-19 outbreaks grow“. Asia Gaming Brief. June 29, 2021.