Christmas is imminent and maybe a little early for around three business Detroit casinos. In a press conference, the governor of Detroit said that those three casinos could reopen with massively reduced capacity on Dec 21, Monday.
Detroit Casinos Might Reopen in December
Last Month, Motorcity, Greektown, and MGM Grand were closed for the second time on orders of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. However, on the 21st, the governor is approving casinos, like movie theatres and bowling alleys, to open for the third second time with the net capacity not to be beyond 100 people in one space. These three casinos didn’t state whether they want to open under such rigid constraints.
The decision of the governor comes after Detroit’s experience of a two-week decline in Covid-19 hospitalization’s number and a plummet in the new cases. Michigan has been reporting 439 cases every million people lower from its highest of 739 in the middle of November.
The Detroit casinos were ordered by Whitmer to shut down their activities on March 16. When these casinos got a permit to reopen on August 5. They were almost limited to 15% operating capacity. Detroit was one of the states to approve commercial gaming to reinitiate.
GGR or Gross Gaming Revenue for the commercial casinos in 2020’s second quarter attained $0. They have won $136.6 M in the third quarter which is a 53.4% decline against the same months in 2019. As a consequence of this latest gaming shutdown, MotorCity, MGM Grand, and Greektown are subjected to miss out on around $67 million in that never made revenue. In the meantime, most tribal casinos in the Great Lake have stayed open for they are not controlled by Whitmer.
Detroit’s resorts and casinos can soon be able to produce GGR even if their land-based activities are obligated to shut by the state. The Gaming Control Board of Michigan has approved sports betting and 15 virtual gaming permits last week. Whitmer approved House Bill 4916 last year and the legislation signed for sports betting at casinos in Detroit and tribal venues in Michigan. He also authorized mobile sports-betting and virtual gaming.