Signage alerted that elevator capacity should not exceed four people. Inside the building, sanitizer stations beckoned every 100 feet or so. Several other gamers favored this “casino-robber-chic” look as well, so for once, I felt stylishly aligned. Personally, I’m as skeeved out about touching slot machine buttons as I am inhaling rogue droplets, so I accessorized my trusty “Star Wars” mask - I’m saving the one provided by the casino for another trip - with black latex gloves. How long it will continue is undetermined Harrah’s Cherokee management said it will “work closely with the EBCI, (Harrah’s parent company) Caesars Entertainment and health experts to adjust our health and safety protocols.” While most casino markets, including recently resuscitated Las Vegas, only suggest patrons wear them, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, which owns the two properties (Harrah’s manages them), determined their guidelines. Much like the concert industry that I cover on a full-time basis, casinos thrive on crowds, and managing throngs of people is incongruous to the stay-away-from-everyone recommendations we're advised to endorse for the good of humanity.īut we also know there are conflicting mindsets about such guidelines, primarily wearing masks.īoth Harrah’s Cherokee properties require the use of masks by employees and guests. Like any avid gambler, I was tick-tocking the days until our closest casinos resumed operations (both sites engaged in soft openings for invited guests on May 18, and opened to the general public on May 28), though I was somewhat trepidatious about what to expect regarding safety protocols.įor weeks, I scoured my usual gambling websites and message boards for tidbits about how casinos planned to cultivate a protected environment in the midst of a still-raging pandemic. Usually five or six trips a year to Las Vegas, three or four to Atlantic City and supplementary visits to Harrah's Cherokee and its smaller sister property, Harrah's Cherokee Valley River (about an hour closer to metro Atlanta in Murphy, North Carolina).

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