Why are some Southern California casinos still open during coronavirus pandemic?

While a number of Southern California casinos have shut their doors to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, some were still open for gambling as of Monday afternoon, March 16.

This despite Inland county bans on gatherings of 250 or more, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urging the cancellation or postponement of gatherings of 50 or more for eight weeks and a wave of other closures – including schools, bars, wineries, and breweries – in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that has sickened almost 170,000 and killed more than 6,500 worldwide.

In California, more than 330 coronavirus cases have been confirmed – 15 in Riverside County – with six deaths blamed on the disease. Gov. Gavin Newsom has urged those 65 and older to self-isolate at home.

Though several casinos on tribal land announced plans to close through the end of the month over the weekend, others including Agua Caliente Casino Palm Springs, Agua Caliente Resort Casino Spa Rancho Mirage, Cahuilla Casino near Anza, Fantasy Springs Resort Casino near Indio, Morongo Casino, Resort and Spa near Cabazon, Pala Casino, Spa & Resort near Pala, Soboba Casino Resort near San Jacinto and Valley View Casino and Hotel near Valley Center remained open Monday morning.

Representatives from these casinos could not be immediately reached Monday morning.

On its website Monday, Pala announced the closure of several venues, including the Poolside Café & Bar, Choices The Buffet, Sushi Sake, High Limits Lounge and Pala Spa.

Because the casinos are on sovereign tribal land, the county can’t order them to close, Riverside County spokeswoman Brooke Federico said.

“We understand that it’s an economic hardship and would have a lasting impact for any business to close down,” she said. “We appreciate that some have taken the proactive measure to close.”

To lessen the chance of contracting COVID-19, public health officials are recommending people stand at least 6 feet apart from each other in public settings. But whether it’s playing slots, gathering around gaming tables or hitting the buffet table, casino patrons – many of whom are senior citizens at higher risk of death due to coronavirus – typically are shoulder to shoulder.

Frequent casino visitor David Van Buren, a 71-year-old Highland resident said by phone Friday that he found it concerning that the casinos had not decided to close because they are often packed with thousands of people and a significant percentage of their clientele is older.

“If Disneyland can’t operate, why in the world would a casino operate?” Van Buren said.

Van Buren said he felt that canceling or postponing events, which many of the casinos announced plans to do last week, was not enough.

“The events, that’s the least of their problems as far as spreading the virus, because you’re sitting there in one spot and you’re not interacting with the environment like you are when you gamble,” Van Buren said. “When you’re gambling you’re constantly touching machines, the slot machines, and one person leaves and another person sits on the same machine.”

Many of the casinos last week issued statements that they had increased cleaning efforts, including more sanitization of frequent touch points such as slot machines, elevator buttons and handrails. Van Buren said he was not convinced that was effective.

“You would literally need to have a person, an employee, follow the gambler from one machine to another machine,” he said. “You would virtually need an employee to watch each customer as they move from one position to another. There’s no way they could do that.”