Monday marked the first day Iowa's 19 commercial casinos were allowed to operate in 75 days thanks to an order signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds last week. The vast majority are open as of Wednesday.
May 20, 2020 Two months after they closed the doors, the leaders of Dubuque's two casinos are unsure when they will be able to reopen. Even so, officials at both properties started making preparations for when that day finally arrives. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ADVERTISEMENT.
Some will open later, such as Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino, which has plans to reopen on June 15. Prairie Meadows is the largest casino in the state.
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While most casinos may be reopening, Reynolds' order restricts locations to 50% capacity. Casinos also must adhere to social distancing guidelines, which means gaming positions must be either six feet apart or separated by a barrier. Blazing 7 slots free online play.
The policy on masks varies by casino. Prairie Meadows, for instance, has said each guest must wear a face covering.
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Which Iowa casinos are open?
Here is a list of every Iowa commercial casino and its status as of Wednesday morning.
Ameristar Casino Hotel: Open
Casino Queen Marquette: Open
Catfish Bend Casino: Open
Diamond Jo Casino: Open
Diamond Jo Worth Casino: Open
Grand Falls Casino & Golf Resort: Open
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City: Open
Harrah's Council Bluffs Casino & Hotel: Closed indefinitely
Horseshoe Casino Council Bluffs: Open
Isle Casino Hotel Bettendorf: Open
Isle Casino Hotel Waterloo: Open
Lakeside Hotel Casino: Open
Prairie Meadows: Opening June 15
Q Casino: Open
Rhythm City Casino Resort: Open
Wild Rose Casino & Resort, Clinton: Open
Riverside Casino & Golf Resort: Open
Wild Rose Casino and Resort Emmetsburg: Open
Wild Rose Casino and Resort® Jefferson: Open
Harrah's Council Bluffs Casino and Horseshoe Casino Council Bluffs are sister casinos both owned by Caesars Entertainment, which is why only one of them is reopening.
Health measures at casino properties
It remains to be seen how this will affect Iowa's COVID-19 numbers, if at all. But, to their credit, casino operators appear to be taking the responsibility of cleaning and sanitizing their properties very seriously.
'Over the past two months, the entire property was deep cleaned inside and out with every surface, nook and cranny scrubbed and sanitized,' Tom Timmons, president and COO of Wild Rose Casino in Clinton, told OurQuadCities.
'We will continue this diligence after we open. When a guest is done playing a game, the slot system will use proprietary technology to notify crews that it needs to be cleaned and sanitized.'
With that said, at least seven casinos have already said they won't open table games immediately. That includes:
- Ameristar II Casino in Council Bluffs
- Casino Queen in Marquette
- Hard Rock, The Q Casino in Dubuque
- The three Wild Rose casinos in Clinton, Emmetsburg, and Jefferson
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'We've been diligently preparing to welcome our guests back to Rhythm City Casino Resort. The team has enhanced our already stringent cleaning regimen and placed signage to keep everyone mindful of social distancing and other CDC and Health Department guidelines,' Rhythm City Casino Resort General Manager Mo Hyder said.
Prairie Meadows reopening plan
In addition to casino games, Prairie Meadows in Des Moines announced horse racing will return to the venue on June 19. There's even a chance it could be the first horse track in the country to welcome back fans in the stands. While there are currently about a dozen thoroughbred and quarter horse tracks holding races across the U.S., none are allowing fans in the stands.
However, Reynolds' order allows Iowa's tracks to welcome spectators provided they follow social distancing guidelines. Iowa Greyhound Park is another candidate to be the first horse track in the country to have fans, which we could see as early as next week.
The doors of operational normalcy may be creaking open in parts of the United States, but large gathering places remain far from finding their 'on' switches.
In the face of the most disruptive pandemic in a century, states such as Iowa are attempting to slowly restart their economies. Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, for example, on Friday declared that restaurants and other select businesses in 77 counties (of the state's 99) less ravaged by the coronavirus here may operate at 50 percent capacity to galvanize financial engines.
Yet almost all of the city's significant population centers in a state of roughly 3.15 million people are located in 22 counties still under stricter closure guidelines until at least May 15.
Moreover, the new guidelines for this first phase of reopening don't apply to mass gathering centers such as the state's 19 licensed casinos, most of which have been shuttered since mid-March. So the wait continues for Iowa Gaming Association president and CEO Wes Ehrecke and his member facilities.
Ehrecke estimated that of the state casino industry's roughly 8,800 employees, the vast majority of them have now been temporarily laid off after initial compensation plan structures relative to a COVID-19 work stoppage have elapsed. The most notable of those dominoes to fall came this past week, when nonprofit Prairie Meadows casino and horse racetrack in the Des Moines metro area announced the layoffs of 1,130 employees effective May 3, leaving 73 essential personnel for casino operations.
Since shuttering voluntarily March 16, Prairie Meadows had approved compensation plans for its workers first through April 16, and then again through May 2. Affected employees are still receiving health benefits through July 31. But for now, an indefinite furlough begins for employees of the facility that brought in the lion's share of the state's $1.5 billion in total gaming and sports wagering revenue in the 2019 fiscal year.
'We want to continue assisting our employees as they navigate these difficult and challenging times,' said facility president and CEO Gary Palmer in a company news release. 'Teamwork and support of each other continues to be at our core of operation. We are optimistic and hopeful for the future.'
But what will that future look like? As soon as this week, Ehrecke said the association hopes to have the guts of a comprehensive 'procedures and protocols' plan available for its member casinos for when even a partial all-clear is given. From disinfecting and sanitization plans to recommendations on social-distancing-conscious seating arrangements for approved table games, facilities will be able to adapt and amend the plans based on their individual needs, he said.
'We're definitely all in this together as to what (an eventual reopening) might look like,' Ehrecke said. ‘We'll conform and adapt.'
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In the immediate term, he said he'll be watching what other jurisdictions are doing if they plan on opening more quickly, and his regional counterparts will all be comparing notes, he said. Once there is any kind of go-ahead, Ehrecke said officials will need between five and 10 days to reopen — from re-hiring furloughed staff to new training on sanitary protocols, among other concerns.
'Although the industry is a lot more robust than it was 10 years ago, it's still highly specialized,' said Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission administrator Brian Ohorilko. 'Given the training many facilities have already given employees, they will want them available (upon a resumption).'
Prairie Meadows executive vice president Brad Rhines said via email that he did not wish to comment on speculative return timelines for the casino, and he did not respond to a question about issues relative to the reopening of its pari-mutuel facility, which was scheduled to have his season-opening weekend last week.
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The balancing act involves more than simply opening up the facility, rehiring staff and having participants keep their social distance. Ohorilko explained that state agreements require that a thoroughbred season run 67 days and that a quarter horse campaign have 26 race days. The Iowa Greyhound Track in Dubuque also has a set number of dates to clear.
Presently, it appears highly unlikely that Prairie Meadows or many other racing facilities would be able to meet such yearly standards, which are kept in order to maintain proper purse levels annually, since those are directly correlated to adjusted gross receipts from casino revenues.
A special agreement for 2020 on the number of race dates and purse levels may be needed to accommodate future revenue projections if this season is shortened or is conducted without spectators in attendance, he said.
To gauge another idea of a potential opening timeline — Iowa passed 10,000 reported positive COVID-19 cases this week — Ohorilko said his department has been gathering information for upwards of three weeks to be prepared to expedite a reopening.
That said, 60 percent of his working staff has been temporarily assigned to help the state Iowa Workforce Development program, which has handled more than 250,000 new unemployment claims the past weeks — a per capita range not seen since the Great Depression.
While a sliver of the door might be creaking ajar, expectations remain realistic, if not pessimistic.
'We anticipate the return of patrons will be flower at first. It's not going to be ‘open the doors, and we're back at full capacity,'' Ehrecke said. 'It will take some time to give assurances that we are a safe place to go back to. Hopefully, though, we will be welcoming many of them back.'
