Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) has announced that it is to reopen five more of its casinos across Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Casinos will begin to resume activities from today (June 12), with CDI to stagger the reopenings across the next seven days, after all of the locations were forced to temporarily close due to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
Calder Casino in Miami Gardens, Florida, and the Lady Luck Casino Nemacolin in Farmington, Pennsylvania, will both reopen today.
Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in New Orleans, Louisiana, will then reopen tomorrow, following CDI’s decision to resume activities at its 12 off-track betting locations in the state last month.
Ocean Downs Casino in Berlin, Maryland, and Miami Valley Gaming – the 50-50 50 joint venture with Delaware North in Lebanon, Ohio – are both scheduled to reopen to customers from June 19.
“With these five anticipated property reopenings, CDI will have seven of our ten gaming properties, as well as Derby City Gaming, back in operation across the country,” CDI chief executive Bill Carstanjen said.
“We are grateful to our teams who have ensured smooth, safe and successful reopenings over the past month and to our returning guests who have enthusiastically adapted to new protocols.”
CDI earlier this week also reopened its Derby City Gaming property in Louisville, Kentucky. The Derby City Gaming site primarily runs historical racing machines, terminals that allow players to bet on video replays of historic horse racing.
All CDI properties that reopen will implement and practice the operator’s new ‘CDI 360 Degree Approach to Safety’, which sets out initiatives to facilitate social distancing, personal protection and enhanced cleaning.
Protocols include increased frequency of cleaning and sanitising of all high-touch surfaces, mandatory temperature checks of guests and staff, providing personal protective equipment to employees, and restricting capacity at its properties.
Boyd Gaming this week also announced plans to reopen three casinos in Indiana and Ohio, bringing its total number of properties back in operation to 24 out of 29 across the US.
On June 15, operations will restart at two properties in Indiana; Blue Chip Casino Hotel and Spa in Michigan City, and Belterra Casino Resort in Florence. Belterra Park in Cincinnati, Ohio, is also set to reopen on June 19.