On Friday, casinos across Southern California opened their doors to gamblers as some lockdown restrictions are softened.
Michael L. Fennell says he has spent a good portion of his 70 years gambling, so he knows the difference between a long shot and a sure bet. And he admits his decision to step inside a casino during a global pandemic was a bit of a gamble.
Federal law allows tribes to run casinos with sovereignty, limiting the ability of the state or other local authorities to dictate how they operate. Nevertheless, most shut down voluntarily in mid-March, days before Gov. Gavin Newsom issued his stay-at-home order. “It’s costing a ton of money for some of these measures, and it’s worth it, because you can’t put a price on someone getting sick,” Grubbe said.
“So we kind of said, look, we need to do what’s best for us, for our people, for our employees and kind of take control of our destiny,” Grubbe said. “Everything seemed to be getting better as far as the [COVID-19] cases and the deaths. And if you open up slowly — don’t go full steam ahead, but with all these safety precautions — the time’s right.
Morongo said it was limiting capacity on its main casino floor — at 148,000 square feet, among the largest in California — but declined to say what the new capacity was. In any case, that number was reached by 2:30 p.m. Friday, about three hours after opening, leaving more than a hundred people standing in line outside in 90-degree temperatures.
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