Las Vegas reopening from coronavirus casino closure

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The casino coronavirus closure is ending, with cards to be dealt, dice to roll and slot jackpots to win again starting Thursday in Las Vegas and throughout Nevada.

Hotel-casinos in suburban Sin City planned to be first to open at 12:01 a.m., followed later in the morning by a restart of the iconic Bellagio fountain and reopenings of many neighboring resorts on the Las Vegas Strip.

Wynn Resorts pushed back its planned opening to daylight hours in a nod to ongoing nighttime protests over George Floyd's death in Minnesota. Floyd, a black man, died after a white officer pressed his knee into his neck.

There are big hopes for recovery from an unprecedented and expensive shutdown prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.

“There’s a tremendous amount on the line, not only for casinos, but for the community and the state,” said Alan Feldman, a longtime casino executive now a fellow at the International Gaming Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “This is an extremely important moment.”

Casino resorts that had been famously always open were shuttered in mid-March after Gov. Steve Sisolak’s emergency order closed nonessential businesses to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Property owners, state regulators and Sisolak, a Democrat who has been criticized for the closure, are balancing health concerns against the loss of billions of dollars a month in gambling revenue and unemployment that topped 28% during an idled April.

They're betting that safety measures — disinfected dice; hand sanitizer and face masks; limited numbers of players at tables; temperature checks at entrances to some resorts; touchless cellphone check-ins — will lure tourists back.

“I’m optimistic that customers will see that gaming properties invested time and...