When are you heading back?

Went to Buffalo Run, I liked the uncrowded, 3 players at Blackjack table.
They no longer have Surrender. Along with good penetration on Double Deck I had thought it was the best around. Not so now. They read your temp and provided mask and gloves. Not required to wear.

 

I also prefer playing with a MAX of 3 players and hope that all casinos make that a mandatory requirement! I've had my biggest winning sessions on such tables and it speeds the game up, too!

 

I got a message from my host at Choctaw Casino in Durant, Ok. They are opening up at 10 AM on 5/27. They are going to limit their capacity to 6000 people. They say that there will be an empty seat between players at tables. They will have masks available but you do not have to wear one. They do not mention anything about machine spacing. They have 4300 machines. They encourage players not to congregate. Groups will congregate no matter what they say. Looks like the employees will wear masks

 

What a diff in size! Buffalo Run has limit of 242 guests. They have no 6 to 5 Blackjack.

 

I have no info on Winstar the other casino across the border from Texas into Oklahoma. It is bigger and has 7700 machines. Looks like they might open on 5/29.

My host a Choctaw said this was a soft opening. Probably to get their procedures more solidified. I will not be there for Months, depending on what goes on out there.

 

Just a little info on the geography of Oklahoma.
Choctaw Nation is southeast Oklahoma. Starting at Lake Texhoma and going east to the Arkansas-Louisiana border. I don't know how far North it goes. All casinos in that area are Choctaw.
The Chickasaw Nation butts up to the Choctaw Nation on the West. It runs for miles on the east and west side of I-35 and from the Texas border to Norman Oklahoma. All the casinos in this area are Chickasaw.
Neither nation allows other casinos.
So the 2 big casinos just across from the Dallas-Fort Worth area have a captive audience of roughly 7 million Texans. They have come a long way from being a couple of tents back in the early 2000's.
Choctaw is doing another expansion and will have another 1000 room hotel and 3400 additional machines by this time next year.

 

Northern Indiana/Southwest Michigan casinos are re opening with limited "Curbside Service." No masks or gloves or hand sanitizer required.

Just pull up, roll down your window and give them your money.

 

Beau Rivage is opening June 1st. June blackjack tournament cancelled with no rescheduled date.

 

Huh?! 25% their maximum yet that's already 6K+ ppl?!!?! How the hell big is this place that I've never heard of !

 

Here you go. https://www.winstar.com/footer/about/

 

According to Winstar they have 400,000 square feet of gaming space. It is shaped like an L.
A football field including end zones is 57,600 square feet so Winstar is about 7 football fields. If you put 4 on one side and 3 on an end to make an L you have the basic shape of Winstar. It is a long way to walk from one end to the other. I don't believe Winstar is as wide as a football field so it is longer than 7 fields. Just as a guess I would say it is at 1/2 mile from one end to the other.

 

Nevada governor Steve Sisolak just announced that Nevada casinos will be allowed to re-open June 4th (Thursday) with 50% maximum capacity. Hopefully email and mail offers will soon be arriving. CET has indicated that Caesar's Palace (high end) and Flamingo (lower end) will be the first to re-open. The only other known at this time, as Ken pointed out, is that MGM properties will have staggered openings.

 

I think going back to the casino will depend on risk tolerance. I believe that all precautions in the casino will distingrate after one week. I can see that now on the beaches and newly opened restaurants. I cannot think of a better place to spread infection like a casino where people come from various parts and cities and stick together for a prolonged periods. The risk that a person can take does not only affect him but affect his contacts such as family, friends, co-workers and society in general. Needless to say I will not be going for a while.

 

Winstar has updated their reopening site. https://www.winstar.com/reopening/

They are now going to do temperature checks at the door. Everyone must wear a mask. Not opening table games at all. I am not going there but it sounds like a step in the right direction.

 

Actually I want to expand a little bit on the 2 casinos Winstar and Choctaw Casino at Durant.

These 2 casinos which have the DFW market do not want to be on the DFW news as the source of Covid outbreak. North Texans are there source of revenue and they do not want to scare them off. A typical weekend at Winstar has the population of a small city (20k-25k) people. There will be some spread tracked back there at some point. They can at least point out that they are doing basically everything in their power to limit this.

 

When I think about it looking at Las Vegas and the 2 Oklahoma casinos it should be sadly interesting to see the results after a couple of months.

Las Vegas tourists (even though slowed down by refusing to fly on a plane) come from everywhere and I am sure there will be plenty of Californians who can drive there. They in general visit multiple casinos and attractions. It will be difficult to track where the covid outbreaks come from other than just Las Vegas.

There are only 2 casinos in Oklahoma on the Texas border above DFW. People drive to them from North Texas, park in the parking lots and stay at them. It should be relatively easy to track outbreaks in North Texas from going to one of these casinos.

 

Winstar must be new eh? I had never previously heard of it before!

I have been to Dallas a few times, and only thing I'd ever heard peeps talking about when it comes to casinos is driving 2 hours east to Shreveport in Bossier City, namely, Horseshoe (which I've also had a very large $10K+ win)