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The California Department of Public Health recently issued specific industry guidance for outdoor operations that should lead to more cardrooms reopening.

At least seven California cardrooms have already reopened with outdoor gaming over the past month. Many more cardrooms would like the opportunity, but first need permission from their county.

Outdoor operations a good short-term fix

“We appreciate the state’s guidance on outdoor gaming,” said Kyle Kirkland, president of the California Gaming Association.

“While outdoor gaming is not a long-term fix, it will help some cardrooms be able to bring some employees back to work and generate some revenue to help stay in business. We will continue to work with the state to identify other relief we need including our urging to allow our cardrooms to open up for indoor gaming similar to the tribal casinos.”

Cardrooms are looking for alternatives to stay in business and support their workforce while waiting on coronavirus conditions to improve enough to operate indoors.

Under the state’s “Blueprint for a Safer Economy,” cardrooms must wait until they fall into a specific tier in order to reopen indoors at reduced capacities.

The governor provided four color-coded tiers determining how businesses can operate. If the cardroom is in a county that reaches the orange tier, the cardroom can reopen at 25% capacity. If the county reaches the yellow tier, cardrooms can reopen at 50% capacity.

The monitoring list is updated every Tuesday. For a county to advance in tiers, it must meet the metrics for the next tier for two straight weeks.

Counties can only move one tier at a time, and there is a 21-day mandatory wait time between moves.

Only two cardrooms in the state have that orange status. Casino Club in Redding plans to be the first to reopen indoors Tuesday.

Tribal casinos in the state, with sovereign rights to determine their own course of action, are open for indoor operations.

COVID-19 industry guidance: outdoor operations of cardrooms

The document provides guidance for the outdoor operations of cardrooms to support a safe, clean environment for workers. The guidance also applies to third-party providers of proposition player services (TPPPS) who operate within the cardrooms.

Guidelines outlined by the state include:

• Ensure adequate lighting of outdoor gaming areas for worker safety and surveillance coverage.
• Install barriers that prevent vehicles from entering the outdoor gambling area.
• No more than one side of a tent or canopy may be closed.
• Barriers to contain the outdoor gaming area may be no higher than three feet.
• Cashier’s cages may remain indoors with partitions or physical barriers.
• Place hand sanitizing stations in areas where queuing and handling of chips, cards, money, and tickets occur.
• Consider providing disposable gloves at each table.
• Provide time between dealer rotations to allow for thorough hand washing.
• For card games where players touch the cards, the cards must be discarded every four hours, sanitized, or kept out of the rotation for a minimum of seven days.
• TPPPS must use hand sanitizer prior to beginning play at each table and at the conclusion of the table rotation.
• Chips should be removed from service and replaced with clean chips upon every dealer rotation, then washed and disinfected prior to circulation.
• Configure tables and chairs, and reduce the number of occupants of gaming tables, so that customers and workers can maintain six feet of physical distance.
• Discontinue meal service at gaming tables.
• Operators may only sell alcohol when purchased in the same transaction as a meal.

LA cardrooms hope outdoor guidance helps get green light

Keith Sharp, an attorney for Gardens Casino in Hawaiian Gardens, said that Los Angeles cardrooms are asking the county Board of Supervisors to let them reopen for outdoor gaming next week.

“We’re asking them next Tuesday to make the decision to allow us to reopen by the end of next week. We’ve proven we can do it and do it safely. We’re ready to go. We’re just waiting for the county and hoping the supervisors understand that people need to get back to work, and they need to get going sooner rather than later.”

The Board previously gave Los Angeles cardrooms permission to reopen indoors in June, but Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered them closed 12 days later.

The Los Angeles cardrooms developed a joint health and sanitation program for the June reopening. Safety protocols included plexiglass between each player, customers required to wear masks, and dealers with face shields.

The protocols also included employees constantly cleaning surfaces.

Additionally, they are complying with emergency health regulations implemented by the Gambling Control Commission and meeting the state’s outdoor guidelines.

Sharp said that all Los Angeles cardrooms plan to offer gaming outdoors. The cities in which they are located, many of which depend on the revenue they generate, also support their reopening. At Gardens, they expect to offer between 40 and 50 tables compared to the usual 200 tables indoors.

“It’s sort of a band-aid,” Sharp said. “We’re not going to be able to have the number of tables as we do indoors, but it’s better than not operating at all. We’ll get some of our employees back to work and get the cities we’re situated in some revenue.”

The post Find Out How Close Your Local California Cardroom Is To Reopening appeared first on Play CA.

One California cardroom seeks to provide hope that the industry can successfully reopen for indoor gaming.

Casino Club in Redding will reopen Tuesday, becoming the first California cardroom to offer indoor games since the state introduced tiered reopening guidelines.

The “Blueprint for a Safer Economy” created four color-coded tiers for counties based on coronavirus infection rates. Because Shasta County started in the orange tier, Casino Club can reopen at 25% capacity.

Ileana Harris, owner of Casino Club, spoke with PlayCA about the challenges faced by California cardrooms, new safety protocols, and her hopes for the reopening.

California cardrooms suffering from long closures

Casino Club reopens three days shy of six months closed. Other cardrooms opened in June, only to close again three weeks later on the governor’s orders.

“It’s been really devastating and extremely expensive to be closed this long,” Harris said. “I was thinking maybe we would shutter for two-to-three weeks, but it didn’t happen that way. I can’t begin to say how much money we lost when other businesses around us have been open.”

She was unable to pay the casino’s 34 employees, many of whom she said had to resort to going to food banks and make arrangements to pay discounted monthly rent. Despite the lower capacity, Casino Club will reopen with its full staff.

Casino Club’s location near the far north of the state gives it a head start in reopening over other cardrooms. Redding is a city of 97,000 people, while Shasta County has a population of 191,000.

“All along we haven’t had that much infection compared to other areas with bigger populations,” Harris said. “We want our players to experience as close as possible to the inviting atmosphere they are used to.”

Casino Club’s rules for reopening indoor gaming

Harris indicated that all games the casino offers — poker, blackjack and three-card poker — will be available.

For Casino Club, 25% capacity equates to a maximum of 50 people allowed in the casino area. When capacity is reached, patrons can wait in a game room with televisions, pool tables and darts.

Patrons will be required to wear masks in the gaming area, though they will be asked to lower their masks as they enter the facility to capture their face on camera. Employees won’t check temperatures at the door.

Additional details of the reopening:

• The 25% total capacity does not apply to individual tables. Using dividers allows blackjack tables to hold eight patrons. Poker games will play five-handed.
• Food and beverage areas, including a grill and night club, can reach 50% capacity.
• The night club features karaoke nightly. Employees will change the microphone cover for each singer. Masks are optional for staff and customers in food areas.
• Cards and chips will be removed from action each day and quarantined for seven days. Harris projects card expenses to increase by $87,000 over the first eight months.

“For a small cardroom, it’s brutal,” she said. “It will increase our expenses. I’m taking a chance that this will improve in the next six to eight months.”

Possible expansion of capacity on horizon

Harris said she is taking a gamble that Casino Club can be profitable at 25% capacity while paying 100% of rent, utilities, and payroll.

Calculated into that gamble is an expectation that the area is trending in the right direction.

Shasta County already is in the orange tier in terms of testing positivity. If the case rate drops another 0.3, Shasta County could move up to the yellow tier.

That would allow Casino Club to expand to 50% capacity, which Harris hopes to happen within the month.

Harris said she will not add additional capacity outdoors for safety reasons. There is a large homeless population in the area. Like many areas of California, Redding also is in the middle of a heat wave and the air quality is poor due to fires in the region.

“I made the decision two months ago that, until I could come in and give players the experience they’re used to having in a gaming establishment, I would not alter the way games are played,” Harris said.

More California cardrooms nearing reopening

Other California cardroom owners will closely watch how Casino Club fairs.

North Coast Casino in Humboldt is the only other cardroom in the state located in an orange-tier county, but it has yet to announce plans to reopen. Three prominent San Diego cardrooms are in the red tier, closing in on orange-tier status.

Santa Clara and Santa Cruz were among five counties added to the red tier Tuesday. The neighboring counties are home to five cardrooms. They must wait at least three weeks to advance another tier to allow for indoor gaming.

In the meantime, Bay 101 and Casino M8trix in Santa Clara are among the many California cardrooms starting operations outdoors under tents.

The post One California Cardroom Set To Reopen Indoor Gaming Tuesday appeared first on Play CA.

The operation of California cardrooms is getting more “in tents.” Artichoke Joe’s cardroom in San Bruno is the latest to reopen its “doors” in a giant tent outside.

Players can now visit the makeshift facility to try their hands at their favorite card games. As long as indoor operation remains a non-starter, it’s likely more California cardroom operators will try to make this model a winning hand.

Details on the new accommodations at Artichoke Joe’s cardroom

After getting clearance from the San Mateo County Dept. of Public Health, the cardroom reopened in its new digs last Friday. It’s open around the clock seven days a week, but that’s about all that remains the same as compared to its pre-coronavirus status quo.

On top of running the show in a tent, the number of tables is cut down to just over 30. Additionally, the cardroom restricts how many players can take occupancy at one of those tables at a time.

The cardroom doesn’t allow players to drink alcoholic beverages or smoke while playing as well.

That’s somewhat assumed, however, as players must wear face masks properly while seated at the gaming tables.

In addition, players must pass a body temperature screening to gain admittance.

While there is a dining area open from 7 a.m. to 3 a.m daily, the curbside food pickup only runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The cardroom has moved to protect its employees and guests with plexiglass barriers. Hand sanitizing stations are available throughout the gaming floor.

Cards and chips along with gaming positions are sanitized throughout the day. While the cardroom does not specify that it is testing employees for the virus, it does mention daily symptom screenings.

For the hundreds of employees who are now back to work, there’s a natural incentive to report any symptoms. An outbreak could jeopardize their jobs again.

Still a fragile situation for California cardrooms

For now, operating outdoors is the only option for cardrooms in the state. California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order shuttering indoor operations has been in place since mid-July.

Even the outdoor operation of cardrooms in places like San Bruno is subject to local COVID-19 positivity rates. There’s another risk besides community spread for cardrooms, however.

Other gambling laws require cardrooms in the state to have a set amount of money on hand, including enough to cover the cost of players cashing out their chips. The state is serious about enforcing such laws, as it shut down a cardroom earlier this year for non-compliance.

While those funds are kept separate from cardrooms’ general expense accounts by law, it still requires locations staking themselves in games to maintain enough funds. That means cardrooms like Artichoke Joe’s need to keep the tables full.

After several warnings, Attorney General Xavier Becerra issued the emergency shutdown of the underfunded Magnolia House Casino.

California cardrooms need to do more than just enforce new safety protocols to ensure they remain open.

The post Artichoke Joe’s Joins Group Of California Cardrooms Opening Outdoors appeared first on Play CA.

New York was the last state which hadn’t yet given its commercial casinos the green light to reopen, but they will now be able to do so on September 9.

The post Gov. Cuomo Gives NY Casinos Long-Awaited Green Light appeared first on Online Poker Report.

PokerStars has increase the pace with which it is leaving gray markets since its merger with Flutter. China is the latest and most significant of these.

The post PokerStars Pulls Out Of China, Taiwan And Macau appeared first on Online Poker Report.

The San Jose City Council made a move Tuesday that likely pleased many residents. San Jose cardrooms will soon resume operations outdoors.

By a 10-1 vote, the council gave its nod to Bay101 and Casino M8trix’s reopening plans. It’s part of a growing trend in the state that is putting cardroom employees back to work.

Why San Jose cardrooms are reopening outdoors

The bottom line is that for the foreseeable future, it’s the only way they can operate. California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered cardrooms to close their doors in the middle of July due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Right now, there’s no official timeline for when they might be able to reopen, even on a limited basis, in their usual facilities. Necessity has again mothered invention and these businesses have adapted.

Other cardrooms in the state have set up massive tents and ventilation systems to allow them to reopen outdoors. Even in those settings, however, they still face capacity limits and require guests to wear face masks.

It’s not clear yet when Bay101 or Casino M8trix will reopen. Given that they have been shuttered for the majority of six months, the operators are likely eager to do so as soon as possible.

Bay101 Vice President Ron Werner said his property will require guests to wear face masks. In addition, the makeshift casino will feature plexiglass guards between dealers and players along with limits on how many people can play at one time.

Both cardrooms will soon join the ranks of San Jose businesses operating in new outdoor accommodations. That’s good news for everyone involved.

City coffers, employees benefit from cardrooms’ returns

One of the incentives to add cardrooms to the list of businesses that can operate outdoors for San Jose is financial. The city’s budget for this year called for receipts of $18.9 million from the two cardrooms originally.

The city has revised that number since, and the cardrooms will still have to have a banner remainder of the year to avoid any further downgrades. That’s one of the issues that the council will have to watch going forward.

The council had approved a resolution raising the tax rate on cardrooms, up to 16.5%, last month. At the same time, it approved an increase in the number of tables they could offer.

With reduced capacities, the increase in the tax rate may hinder cardrooms’ viability. Other jurisdictions have mitigated these concerns by temporarily suspending tax assessments.

The city has already taken similar measures, waiving some fees for businesses to operate outdoors. At Tuesday’s meeting, the council did not vote on a delay to the scheduled tax increase for cardrooms.

One group of people who would probably like to see the city do everything it can to ensure cardrooms’ viability is the cardrooms’ employees. After having been laid off for months, getting as many of them back to work is a priority for Casino M8trix.

Robert Lindo, Casino M8trix’s vice president stated:

“Anything Casino M8trix can do to get our employees back to work safely, to generate some much-needed tax revenue for the city of San Jose, and to provide outdoor entertainment and food and beverage to our amazing patrons would be spectacular.”

Now with the necessary approval, Lindo and Werner can focus on getting back to business. The city and all the cardroom employees hope that business will boom shortly.

The post San Jose City Council Tells Cardroom Operators They Can Go Play Outside appeared first on Play CA.