Developing a coronavirus protection strategy for casinos and cardrooms

Casinos need to have a COVID-19 protection and mitigation strategy in place before reopening to the public

COVID-19 Protection
The COVID-19 pandemic is a dramatic, drastic and sudden game changer for casinos and cardrooms.

Indeed, if you believe that one day the government will say, “Go ahead and reopen your casino,” and everything you did and offered in the past will stay the same, guess again—it won’t and everyone needs to come to grips with this fact. It’s time to understand that the concerns regarding infectious viruses and diseases are here to stay for the foreseeable future, and if you are unable to think outside the box for operational solutions going forward, you will lose.

It’s a safe bet that before casinos and cardrooms will be allowed to reopen, management of those establishments will have to prove to their regulatory bodies that the people and personnel entering the properties will be safe, and that their facilities will be maintained in a manner that will promote a healthy and sanitized environment in which players will be able to engage in gambling, under strict rules and regulations, without being placed at risk of contracting contagions.

DEVELOPING A GAME PLAN

How to keep everyone safe inside the facility is the main issue casino and cardroom management need to take into consideration before reopening for business. It’s important to tackle this situation using a risk-based approach; determining risks based on geographical location, demographics of the customer base, and the physical dimensions and conditions of the entire facility. By determining the levels of infectious risk, management will be better prepared for planning a reopening (and operational) strategy, and determine how to adequately assign resources in order to accomplish what is necessary—the safety of everyone entering the facility.

There are three primary areas of concern that need to be addressed before the doors can open and business can resume:

How to control and prevent or, at the very least, greatly reduce the chance that virus infection is brought into the facility by customers.
How to guarantee that all employees are virus free, with a minimal chance of infecting other employees and customers.
Establishment of policies and procedures that will allow casinos and cardrooms to accomplish the first two areas of health concerns.

What follows are some of my ideas on what smart casino and cardroom operators need to think about when designing their reopening strategy.

EMPLOYEE TESTING & TRACKING

Before an employee can come to work, they will have to be “certified” as a non-infected person. In order to certify, the employee must pass either a COVID-19 test to see if they are infected or an antibody test to see if they were infected at one time and now possess the infection antibodies that render them immune to COVID-19. Following this protocol will greatly reduce the chance that a contaminated employee can enter the facility.

Some items to keep in mind about COVID-19 testing procedures:

For the COVID virus test, which detects COVID RNA, the employee must test negative to COVID-19 before being allowed back to work. This test will need to be administered once a week. Test results can be obtained in a few hours or a few days.
For the antibody test, also known as a serology test, an employee must test positive for an antibody before coming back to the workplace and should be re-tested every two months. One company indicated that a finger stick test could produce results in 15 minutes or less.Primarily there are three antibodies that are produced when the immune system is fighting COVID-19: IgM, a generic fighter that spikes within a few days of infection; IgG, which recognizes and fights the virus—as IgM levels drop, IgG peaks around 28 days after the onset of the infection—and IgA, which is important in fighting respiratory infections. Some serology tests look for only IgM and IgG while other test looks for all three.
While a positive antibody test indicates that the employee does not have the virus, and is immune to the virus for several months, the person who tests negative for the COVID-19 can still become infected with the virus anytime afterward. Employees who have been cleared to work following a COVID test, but then shortly thereafter test positive for COVID, need to be immediately furloughed and barred from returning until their symptoms have subsided and they test positive for antibodies.

While this method of testing isn’t a guarantee that an employee won’t catch the virus in the future, it will reduce the threat to a very manageable and acceptable risk.

CUSTOMER SCREENING

When employees tested positive for COVID-19 in February, casinos in Macau closed for 15 days. Once they reopened, the government dictated radical changes be made to the gaming operations in order to protect the employees and customers, and to reduce the spread of the COVID virus. Based on gaming news coming out of Macau, all casinos are screening customers at the door prior to entering the facility and scanning them for an elevated body temperature. If the scan indicates the customer has a temperature greater that 37 degrees Centigrade (98.6 Fahrenheit), they are not allowed to enter the casino.

Although not eliminating the threat entirely, rejection for possessing an elevated temperature—one of the primary indicators of an infection—greatly reduces the possibility of granting entrance to a sick person. Stay away from rejecting customers for having a runny nose or persistent cough. These are not necessarily indications of COVID infection, and could easily be allergies, a common head cold, or smoker’s hack.

Currently, Macau casino customers are required to put on a surgical-type mask, either one the customer has in his/her possession or one provided by the casino. If the customer refuses to wear a mask, he/she is rejected as well. Some Macau casinos are also providing customers the option of disposable gloves but have not made them a mandatory requirement yet.

SAFETY EQUIPMENT

The good news, if you can call it that, is that COVID-19 cannot be passed through the skin and into the body merely by contact. Indeed, it appears the coronavirus is largely spread by the pathogen entering through a bodily opening such as the eyes, mouth or nose, which means protective equipment can be used to keep employees and visitors better protected from possible infection.

The most widely used pieces of safety equipment by health care personnel and the general public are face masks, surgical or otherwise. Not all face masks are made the same. Health care personnel, working in proximity with known infected patients but unable to use an enclosed environmental system, wear surgical masks rated “N95.” An N95 is used to protect the person from 95 percent of all particles in the immediate atmosphere, which includes the COVID-19 virus. Any mask rated less than the N95, which most are, suffice in keeping a majority of airborne particles within the mask itself, and are used to reduce (not prevent) the spread of the virus to others. Since water droplets from coughs and sneezes are the main threat of spreading the infection, all non-N95 masks are utilized to protect others but are not designed to protect the person wearing it.

Disposable gloves are also used to help limit the spread of the virus. Unfortunately, gloves are not the total answer, since viruses attach as easily to the gloves as they do to human skin. If you have a bad habit of touching your eyes, nose, and mouth, the gloves accomplish nothing since the virus will travel from the gloves to those areas as easily as it would from a bare hand. But if you can keep from touching your face, then you can remove the gloves, and if properly handled and disposed of, add another layer of protection.

Please note that even with this safety equipment, the best protection against contracting and spreading COVID-19 is still washing your hands in soap and water as frequently as possible, and not touching the area of your face.

SOCIAL DISTANCING

Social distancing appears to be the most important tool in the prevention of the spread of COVID-19, according to various reports. Since social distancing is important, casinos and cardrooms need to focus on maintaining this policy once the customers and employees are allowed back onto the confines of the gambling floor. When the casinos in Macau reopened at the end of February, in addition to limiting the number of employees and visitors allowed in the casino at any one time, access to table and slot gaming positions were restricted as well, in order to distance the customers from each other.

What follows are procedures put in place to accommodate the distance needed to keep the gambling environment as safe as possible for both the customers and the employees:

An active game table must operate between two closed tables (in Macau, this meant 50 percent of table games remain closed).
A maximum of three players on five-/six-position tables with unoccupied seats in between. Seven-position tables should be limited to four players with same unoccupied seat requirement.

Fewer open tables and gaming positions allows operators to reduce the number of staff members required to operate the games, which will help gaming facilities operating under capacity limits that are likely to include gaming personnel on the casino floor in addition to the customer totals.

No customers can stand at the table or behind seated players. This policy might require rope and stanchions to be placed around each game in order to prevent non-playing customers from getting too close to the active table game. In Macau customers around Asian-style games like baccarat, pai gow, and pai gow poker, may not place bets from off the table. Some casinos will accept “backline” betting (betting on someone else’s betting position) but the player must be seated at the table, and the backline bet must be placed through the dealer (no leaning across the table). Other games like roulette, sic bo, and craps also have social distancing restrictions that include proper seated spacing at the table as well as direct wagering placement restrictions.
Depending on the number of slot machines in a bank or cluster, the number of shut-down machines between customers varies; however, the same social distancing rules apply.

It’s my understanding that maintaining these levels is not a problem. Due to COVID-19 boarder restrictions with mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other neighboring countries, the Macau casinos were operating at a reduced revenue flow of approximately 80 percent in March. This probably will not be the case in North American casinos where the immediate player base will be greater, and not impacted by international borders.

With any reopening plan, social distancing needs to be strongly addressed. Reluctance to do so will more than likely delay regulatory acceptance if not resulting in a straightforward denial.

SANITATION & SAFETY

Casinos and cardrooms should opt to close for several hours a day instead of being open continuously for twenty-four hours. During this period of closure to the public, staff members can engage in efforts to deep clean and sanitize gaming tables, slot machines and other public areas. Carpets, tabletops, chairs, counters, podiums and other furnishings can be cleaned. Management needs to institute a policy of using checklists and logs and issuing reports regarding what areas of the casino have been cleaned and sanitized, who was involved in this process, and report on recommended areas of improvement.

Since the COVID-19 virus is not a living entity (viruses never are), it cannot be killed in the normal sense; it must be dissolved and destroyed. The COVID virus consists of a protein surrounded by a fatty molecule, according to published materials. In order to destroy the virus, the fatty molecule must be dissolved first. Therefore, hot water (over 75 degrees) and soap seem to be one of the best agents for fighting the spread of the virus.

Keep in mind that other cleaning solutions must contain at least 65 percent alcohol to destroy the virus—which means most hand sanitizers are ineffective since they don’t contain a large enough percentage of alcohol per volume to do the trick.

The casino/cardroom should strongly consider placing several handwashing stations on the casino floor (in addition to the restrooms). The stations will provide the customers with areas of opportunity to soap up. Employees need to have access to handwashing stations as well, whether shared or maintained separate from the public.

Another method for sanitizing surfaces and/or gaming equipment would be to expose the surfaces/equipment to ultraviolet light waves. Reports have indicated that the COVID-19 virus can be destroyed using UV-C light sources that produce a light wave in the range of 200 to 280 nanometers. A study shows that the use of a UV-C light source will result in a 99.94 percent reduction in coronavirus after 45 minutes; 15 minutes if the light source is within 10 feet of the surface or equipment. While surfaces like tabletops can be easily sanitized using soap and water, UV-C might be a practical alternative for disinfecting gaming chips, currency, dice, pai gow tiles and playing cards. From what I understand, UV-C can also be used to sanitize surgical masks if they are in short supply.

TABLE GAME MAINTENANCE

Most standard casino table games that utilize playing cards should not have a problem maintaining the sanitized safety of the cards. For example, games such as blackjack and baccarat can be dealt in a “face-up” manner where only the dealer touches the cards. Reusing these cards for the entire day should not represent any health risks. Dealers entering the game will be required to wash their hands with soap and water prior to relieving the previous dealer. Requiring dealers to wear disposable gloves could be a consideration, however, I do not know if specific games can be dealt sufficiently while wearing gloves.

Hand-dealt games, especially alternative card games such as Three Card Poker, Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em, and other poker style games, present a problem. In these games, the customers touch the cards while making their playing/additional betting decisions. Replacing decks of cards after several rounds would be impractical based on hands dealt per hour and cost of playing cards. Even changing the cards once per hour could be costly and time prohibitive.

One alternative would be to require customers to wear disposable gloves that are provided at each table. Before a customer could play, they would need to “glove up”. Again, this procedure would not eliminate the health risk, only reduce it, possibly to a reasonable level.

The use of dice and tiles in games like craps and pai gow also pose a problem since they are handled by the customers. Replacing this equipment on a regular basis might be doable. Dice could be replaced after every shooter (seven-out), with the used dice transported and place into a UV-C sanitizing chamber and rotated accordingly.

Pai gow tiles present a different problem. Tiles could be replaced every hour or half hour since the replacement time should be minimal. Like the dice, the sets of tiles could also be placed into a UV-C sanitizer and reused once sanitized (possibly after 15 minutes). Insisting the customers wear gloves when shooting the dice or playing pai gow could be another solution with UV-C sanitizing as the backup, but will probably be unacceptable to the traditional gaming customers.

KEEP UP ON INSURANCE

I strongly suggest that management and their legal advisors double-check to make sure the casino is still covered under their previous liability insurance policy. Insurance companies tend to cancel policies and run for cover after major crises in order to protect their own exposures. It would be wise to make sure your gambling operation is still covered, especially regarding COVID-19 illness, when proceeding forward to reopen.

In addition, double-check your workman’s compensation insurance for cancellation or changes in policy. I envision workman’s comp expenses skyrocketing due to fear of another epidemic. The safer your facility, the more likely you can argue for better rates (or rates not as expensive) from your insurance carrier and underwriter.