Commercial-sector casinos in New York state in the United States, including one controlled by Malaysia’s Genting group, can reopen on September 9, according to an announcement by the state’s governor Andrew Cuomo.
Tribal casinos in the state had already reopened, noted local media reports.
The Genting group’s Resorts World Catskills venue (pictured), upstate, had been closed since March 16, as a precaution against the spread of Covid-19.
The venue said in a notice on its website that the venue was “ready to open our doors on Wednesday, September 9, at 10am”.
It added there would be “stringent new health, safety, scheduling and hygiene procedures in place, ahead of our carefully-managed reopening”.
The property said it had a “21-point safety plan”.
The plan included: limiting entry points to the venue to the main front entrance and the parking garage; body-temperature screening for all arrivees; mask wearing required of staff and customers; and for guests to stay at least six feet (1.8 metres) apart from anyone not in their immediate group, and while queueing, using lifts, or moving around the resort.
Other points included: the placing on the casino floor and throughout the property, of more than 200 “sanitation stations” equipped with hand sanitiser and cleaning wipes; and “enhanced” safety training for staff on infection control regarding Covid-19, and the use of a dedicated cleaning team to protect high-use areas of the property.
Empire Resorts Inc – the operating entity at Resorts World Catskills – was acquired in November by entities controlled by Genting’s controlling Malaysian dynasty, the Lim family.
The Genting group also runs the Resorts World Casino New York City, a so-called racetrack casino. According to local media reports, the property is also scheduled to resume operations on September 9, although its official website had no mention of it, at the time this story went online.
Genting Malaysia Bhd, a unit of the Genting group, reported in its second-quarter results, that its revenue from leisure and hospitality operations in the U.S. and the Bahamas – including casino operations – was negative by MYR31.6 million (US$7.6 million) in the three months to June 30, versus a positive number of MYR378.1 million in the prior-year period.
