Las Vegas casinos are offering an incentive for gamblers who are returning to the slots and tables as Nevada begins reopening: wear a mask, get $20.
Caesars Entertainment, which operates five casinos on The Strip, sent its promotions team to patrol Caesars Palace, Paris, the Flamingo, The Linq and Harrah’s over the weekend to reward guests on the casino floor who were covering their faces with free play vouchers.
The company plans to keep the promotion, which for the time being is only offered to Caesars Rewards members, going indefinitely, but will stop if wearing a mask is made mandatory, according to a spokesperson.
Nevada has seen an increase in coronavirus cases, and state gaming officials have debated making every at casinos wear masks. Casinos reopened two weeks ago after being shutdown for nearly three months. Currently, masks are only required at table games that have no physical barriers.
However, the Culinary Union, the most powerful labor union in the state, is pushing for masks to be required in all public areas at hotels and casinos in order to keep workers safe, according to the Reno Gazette Journal.
The numbers are not going down,” Culinary Union Secretary-Treasurer Geoconda Argüello-Kline said Monday. “They’re going up.”
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Several employees at casinos, including restaurant workers, have tested positive for coronavirus in the last week.
Nevada has had 13,535 known cases of coronavirus, but its four highest single-day increases have happened within the past week.
Gov. Steve Sisolak has so far avoiding making masks mandatory but has said he would support business owners who required customers and employees to wear them.