MGM Closing Vegas Casinos and Resorts

The coronavirus pandemic strikes the gambling world yet again as MGM Resorts announced Sunday that it would be closing its doors until further notice.
CEO of MGM Resorts, Jim Murren, said, “This is a time of uncertainty across our country and the globe, and we must all do our part to curtail the spread of this virus. We will plan to re-open our resorts as soon as it is safe to do so, and we will continue to support our employees, guests, and communities in every way that we can during this period of closure.”
Las Vegas Strip, MGM Grand, and Bellagio are just a few of the 13 hotels and casinos shutting down this week. MGM plans on closing all casinos on Monday and proceeding to close all hotels by Tuesday.
There’s no target date to re-open MGM’s locations, but the company says it plans on reassessing the situation in two weeks. Starting Tuesday, the company will not be taking any more hotel reservations until at least May 1.
CEO Jim Murren pledged to pay full-time employees facing layoffs for two weeks after his or her last work day and says all employees will continue to receive medical benefits until at least June 30.
“It is now apparent that this is a public health crisis that requires major collective action if we are to slow its progression,” Murren said. “We will plan to re-open our resorts as soon as it (is) safe to do so, and we will continue to support our employees, guests, and communities in every way that we can during this period of closure.”
No Other Option
Most sportsbooks across the country are left with really no option but to close its doors for a week or two. Rather than seeing six-figure bets on March Madness games, casinos are seeing losses of 10s of millions of dollars thanks to the coronavirus.
Last year, casinos reportedly accepted $400 million worth of wagers on March Madness, according to Las Vegas officials.
Vegas casinos can stay open, but most will shut down in the next week due to the public backlash it would face for staying open. The domino effect will most likely take place among casinos the next couple of days, as it seems if one location closes, the next does, and so on.
Casinos cannot profit much anyways considering bettors have nothing to really wager on as leagues and sports teams around the world announced postponement of their seasons until the COVID-19 outbreak is under control.