New York Casinos Get Approval From Governor To Reopen This Week

• New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that commercial casinos in the state will able to reopen on Wednesday.
• The casinos of NY had been closed since March 16, when the official order came down to close all public businesses.
• New York was the very last state to allow commercial casinos to reopen following the COVID-19 pandemic.

NEW YORK – After the longest hold out of any US state, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York finally announced that commercial casinos in the state will be able to reopen.

The Governor made the announcement that casinos and video lottery terminal facilities will be allowed to reopen starting September 9.

Cuomo also announced that these facilities will only be able to operate with a 25 percent capacity limit, in accordance with a standard set across the nation.

There will be additional safety protocols these venues will have to undergo in order to safely reopen, including the absolute enforcement of face masks, six-foot social distancing, additional staff for occupancy control and rule enforcement, traffic flow, and layout management in order to successfully implement all of these new rules.

Those looking to gamble in New York will now be able to once again, albeit with some slightly inconvenient new rules.

Employees will also be under more stress to regulate customers as well as maintain extreme sanitation and disinfection protocols.

The casinos themselves will also have to adjust to the situation, with required enhancements to air filtration, purification, and ventilation systems.

"New Yorkers have done an extraordinary job - we flattened the curve in a way that no expert thought was possible," said Governor Cuomo in his announcement. "We've made the determination that we can safely reopen casinos with enhanced air filtration and strict safety protocols including mandatory masks and social distancing. This is good news and the right next step in our data-driven phased reopening which is working."

The tables will look a bit different, as physical barriers will be put in place to separate the customers from the dealers.

This has been the standard across most major US gambling venues who have already reopened across the country.

New Yorkers will welcome back the casinos as the state looks to return to some semblance of normal life.