An unprecedented crisis situation
Confainment and health measures oblige, in Las Vegas, the casinos had to close its doors, time for the United States to contain the pandemic. Games of chance and money not being considered as a sector of basic necessity, the casinos were placed in the expectation: it was not until the end of May that the Governor and the Commission of Nevada games had to decide on the conditions of Reopening of casinos. In addition, the closure of the American borders has not arranged anything, tourists being suddenly absent from the places dedicated to entertainment. This state is most impacted by the COVVI-19, economically speaking. Indeed, 1/3 of employees in southern Nevada work in the hotel industry, catering and especially game establishments.
The games and entertainment market in difficulty
On the one hand, the casinos participated in the general effort, preserving lives by their earthly closure. On the other hand, they have lost a lot of money - unlike the Online casinos Who won more - and had to find economic solutions in an emergency: the Casino MGM Resorts, one of the largest operators in the city, dismissed no less than 63,000 people, plunging them into financial and food distress , indirectly. It is mainly employees such as crumbers, cooks, cleaning women or even servers who found themselves on the sidelines; And that represented many families to support. It is not uncommon in Nevada that a husband or a wife work either at the hotel, while the other officiates at the casino.
Faced with the new situation, the casinos nevertheless answered the call for help.
Casinos: Food bank for all
1.3 million people used the food bank. According to national reports, this is an increase of 40%. In March, when everything was stopped, there were several tonnes of food prepared for casinos buffets. As it would have been unthinkable to throw all this money through the windows, this stock of food has been added to the donations of private donors and other aid of federal programs and local traders.
In order not to leave the employees on the tile, the parking lots of the casinos have been recycled into real humanitarian drives. It was the NGO Three Square that was responsible for preparing boxes for everyone, and organizing the distribution. Beforehand, this organization had taken several days to recover tons of food directly in the refrigerators of the game houses.
And this is how at the Casino Palace Station, one of the 20 distribution points in Las Vegas, the employees were able to come with their car and leave with fresh products. Unlike the supermarket, no need to get out of the car. This arranged people often coming early to benefit from this unexpected windfall: "This allows you to pay the bills with the money that remains," says a transport employee affected by the dismissal of her children. In the meantime, we had to line up no less than 4 hours in view of the thousands of cars that waited for their turn. Enough to exacerbate the impatience of people already hard.
Even in crisis, casinos at the rescue
Many of them had to face current expenses, and deplored this forced unemployment. In parallel, the files for unemployment benefits have been dragged in duration, like confinement.
Some have launched themselves momentarily in the wake of humanitarian aid to help other people in need. In the ranks of volunteers, we have indeed been able to count deales, or servers who, finding long time, wanted to lend a hand. According to them, this crisis touched everyone, rich and poor.
Not to mention the controversy that has mounted regarding the issue of employee safety. Casinos having been accused of not doing enough to help them. At the same time, the mayor of Las Vegas, Carolyn Goodman, was criticized for his lack of an adapted and sufficient response to the crisis that the game sector is currently experiencing.
