Pa Casinos Closed

Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf has ordered the closure of various businesses including casinos in an effort to slow down the out-of-control spread of the coronavirus in the Keystone state.

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One of the Great Casinos in Pennsylvania! There's something for everyone at Harrah's Casino in Chester, PA! Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year-Harrah's is the premier hot spot for gaming action in Pennsylvania. The casino features more than 2,900 of your favorite slots, video poker machines, and live table games. Casinos in Pennsylvania started to close in mid-March to slow the spread of coronavirus. They were closed for over 100 days before the first few started welcoming back guests in June. However, not all returned to around-the-clock operations. Casinos in PA open 24 hours.

The closure is set to take effect on Saturday, December 12, 2020, at 12:01 a.m. and will end on January 4, 2021, at 8:00 a.m. The orders are the most drastic since Wolf shut down all non-essential businesses last March at the onset of the pandemic. Aside from casinos, the order also covers indoor restaurant dining, sports activities, gyms, museums, bowling alleys, theaters and other entertainments venues. Likewise, all businesses serving the public will be limited to 50% capacity only.

In a statement, Wolf said:

“With these measures in place, we hope to accomplish three goals. First, stop the devastating spread of COVID-19 in the Commonwealth. Second, keep our hospitals and healthcare workers from becoming overwhelmed. And third, help Pennsylvanians get through the holiday season — and closer to a widely available vaccine — as safely as possible.”

Friday, June 19: All PA casinos will open soon as six remaining closed casinos get “green” light Pennsylvania’s remaining six closed casinos can reopen as early as June 26. On June 19, Governor Tom Wolf announced twelve counties are moving to the green phase on Friday, June 26 and are permitted to resume operations.

COVID-19 Spread

As in the case with many other states in the U.S., Pennsylvania is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases. With its shutdown, Pennsylvania becomes the third state to declare full casino shutdown. Last November 18, Michigan closed all casinos in a move that was first said to be good for three months but now has been changed to indefinitely. Two days after the Wolverine state, Illinois also declared an indefinite shutdown.

One of the fears in Pennsylvania is that the hospitals and health care workers could get overwhelmed. As of Thursday noon,there were a total of 5,877 people hospitalized with COVID-19, the most since the pandemic started. Gov. Wolf is hoping that the three-week shutdown of will slow down the numbers.

Pennsylvania Gaming Was Doing Well

Pennsylvania gaming were doing well despite the earlier restrictions. During the third quarter of 2020, the gross gaming revenue (GGR) from land-based casinos, online casinos, and brick-and-mortar sports betting shops totaled $891.3M which is 3% more than the July-September 2019 figures. Requiring them to shut down again will affect whatever gains they had.

There are a total of 12 Pennsylvania casinos and racinos with a total gaming revenue of $3.38B in 2019. The Philadelphia gaming market ranked 7th among the United States gaming industry’s top markets, per the American Gaming Association’s 2019 State of the States report. Rivers Casino, the only casino within the Philadelphia limits, has been closed since November 20. With the governor’s new orders, the other Philadelphia area casinos including Parx and Harrah’s Philadelphia will now be closed as well.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has ordered all casinos in the US state to close until at least January 4 as part of new novel coronavirus (Covid-19) restrictions.

Casinos will have to close and halt all gaming activities by 12:01am on December 12, with strict instructions not to reopen until 8:00am on January 4.

The order will apply to all 12 casinos across Pennsylvania, though Rivers Casino Philadelphia had already closed on November 20 in line with an order issued by the City of Philadelphia.

“With these measures in place, we hope to accomplish three goals:, stop the devastating spread of Covid-19 in the commonwealth, keep our hospitals and healthcare workers from becoming overwhelmed, and help Pennsylvanians get through the holiday season – and closer to a widely available vaccine – as safely as possible,” Wolf said.

The closure notice will also cover all other indoor entertainment venues, as well as in-person dining at restaurants, bars, gyms and fitness facilities, while new capacity limits will be introduced for both indoor and outdoor events.

Data released by the Pennsylvania Department of Health showed that the state yesterday (December 10) recorded 12,021 new cases of Covid-19 and 226 related deaths.

Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board executive director Kevin O’Toole backed the decision to temporarily close casinos, saying public health and safety of patrons, casino employees and others is of paramount importance.

“The Board is continuously monitoring developments and will update licensees and the public as frequently as possible with any new developments,” O’Toole said.

The closure order will not impact other forms of regulated gambling, with online casino-type games, sports wagering and fantasy contests to continue as normal.

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