On Sunday, a new stay at home order went into effect in California. Governor Gavin Newsom ordered residents to stay home after the ICU capacity at hospitals dropped under 15%. This order applies to the southern region of the state as well as the San Joaquin Valley. With the order, most indoor businesses are shut down, including card rooms. The shutdown will remain in place for three weeks, or longer, until the ICU capacity increases more than 15%.
This area is home to the majority of California residents as well as the largest card rooms in the state. Hollywood Park, The Bicycle Casino, Hawaiian Gardens and the Commerce Casino are all located in the affected area. A few spots in San Diego county are also affected including Seven Mile Casino and Ocean’s Eleven Casino.
Since the coronavirus hit the US earlier in the year, gambling venues across the nation have been affected, along with many other industries. In California, card rooms shut down in March and reopened in June. However, they shut down again one month later due to issues with the virus.
To try and stay in business, card rooms found a work around to the restrictions and began offering services outside. Most of the facilities had outdoor operations in place when this recent shut down was announced.
California has been a very strict state when it comes to business operation and the virus. Because closures have been ongoing, it would not be surprising to see businesses delayed in reopening if the virus is not gotten under control over the next few weeks.
A vaccine is in the works and could potentially be given in a short time frame, but it will take many months for the majority of the US to be vaccinated. In the meantime, the card rooms in California are trying their best to plan for the future while they sit empty due to the latest stay at home order.
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