MGM announced it will reopen its Mirage venue in Las Vegas later this month.
MGM Resorts International announced that its Nevada-based Mirage resort will reopen to the public on 27 August.
The announcement comes after the MGM venue was closed in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
MGM to reopen The Mirage with safety measures
According to MGM, the venue will be reopened in line with its seven-point safety plan which is a set of measures designed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
These measures include employee screening, temperature checks and coronavirus-specific training. Both employees and customers will be required to wear face masks and complimentary masks will be provided for customers who do not have one.
MGM will also implement social distancing measures and install physical barriers in spaces where it is not possible to socially distance. The operator will also increase the number of hand-washing stations to ensure customers have more access to cleaning facilities.
For the venue’s accommodation, staff will be required to wear masks and gloves when cleaning guestrooms and will have to change gloves between each room.
The health and safety measures include the integration of mobile technology with contactless check-in via smartphones to become the new normal. In addition to this, the venue’s food and drink outlets will use digital smartphone menus.
MGM Resorts president and chief executive Bill Hornbuckle said: “As we have slowly and thoughtfully reintroduced our properties across the country, we have placed the health and safety of our guests and employees first at all times.
“Reopening The Mirage allows us to bring many more of our employees back to work, which is critical in the recovery of our community.”
Casinos reopen in Nevada
Much like the entire US, all casinos in the state of Nevada were ordered to temporarily close on 17 March to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Venues remained closed until 4 June when venues were permitted to reopen as long as they followed guidelines set by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
In order to help prevent the spread of the virus and increase the distance between players, casino occupancy limits will were cut in half and player limits were set for table games.
Pandemic hurts H1 financial performs
Last week, the American Gaming Association (AGA), revealed that US commercial gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the first half of 2020 dropped 45.6% year-on-year to $11.70bn.
For the first half of the year, land-based slot bought in $7.36bn in revenue making it the largest driver for revenue however, this was down 78% from 2019. Table games took the biggest hit in H1 with revenue dropping 78.5% year-on-year to $2.13bn.
While the land-based casino industry took a significant hit during the coronavirus pandemic, igaming revenue soared. According to the AGA report, online gambling revenue jumped 189.7% year-on-year to $634.7m.
During Q2 Nevada continued led the industry after generating $576.3m in GGR. Almost all of this revenue was generated in June after casinos were allowed to reopen to the public
