Australia’s Casinos Hit Hard by New Lockdown
With the onslaught of a new wave of COVID infections across Australia, local casino businesses have been forced to shut their doors once again. Over half the population of Australia has now been moved back into the strictest quarantine protocols, with major cities across the country all affected. Casinos were barely able to catch their breath this year, and following a brief stint of normality, they’ve been forced to close their doors in an effort to fight the accelerating infection rate.
Australia is currently battling rising case numbers of the highly-contagious COVID Delta variant. Concerns regarding the seriously low rate of fully vaccinated people in Australia has led to large parts of the country going back into a full-lockdown. ©Tumisu/Pixabay
Seven of Australia’s largest cities are now under an official lockdown as the authorities struggle to contain the outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID. Over half the population of Australia is now being ordered to stay at home, and the cities affected include Sydney, Brisbane, Darwin, Perth, Gold Coast, and Townsville. There is an intense fear that the virus will spread into nearby aboriginal communities.
There is a high-pressure situation evolving in Australia currently, with just 5% of the population fully vaccinated, political figureheads across the board have begun to criticize the slow pace of the vaccination program the government launched last year. Messaging around certain vaccine manufacturers has at times been confusing and contradictory. Poor supply chain management and paranoia regarding the efficacy have led to the catastrophic situation the country now finds itself in, and Prime Minister Scott Morrison certainly has a lot to answer for.
Of course, all of this spells bad news for the economy and businesses that have been struggling to find their feet after the endless waves of quarantine measures placed on the local population. High street casinos including Crown Resorts and The Star have again been forced to shut their doors, leaving a high degree of uncertainty on their long-term financial stability. Particularly concerning is the newly-opened Crown casino at Barangaroo.
Calls to Close the Australian Border
One of the most catastrophic moves that are looming over Aussie casinos this week will be the government’s approach to international travel. An absolutely essential component of the income for local gambling businesses is the free movement of people from Asia into Australia. The majority of revenue generated from high-net-worth clients originates from Asian players, so a border closure would be a severe blow that many casinos may not be able to recover from.
Thus far the calls to initiate these measures have been fairly muted, some outside the mainland politicians have been the most vocal given the situation in their particular locale demands the most immediate action. As with all cases of public policy, there will be passionate arguments submitted by both sides of the debate, and it will be down to the skill and tenacity of the decision-makers sitting in higher office to deliberate over the most effective path forward.
Up until now, the status quo seems to be fairly unwavering, initiators in Sydney have not given much priority to the longevity of particular parts of the economy. Their main priorities remain with delivering safe policies that will protect the public from a new wave of COVID infections; up until now it doesn’t seem likely they will achieve this. But the swift and decisive lockdown that has now been initiated will likely have a beneficial effect on slowing the rate of infections in densely populated areas.
Australian Casinos Feeling the Pain of the Delta Variant
The Star was the first large casino to pull the plug on its operations, closing down all venues last week for at least 10 days until more information regarding the Delta variant is released by the government. Mindil Beach Casino Resort in Darwin was next to take action, pre-emptively shutting down its venue for the entire duration of the new lockdown. The firm, which is owned and operated by a US group said it needed to take this action early to protect its staff and potential customers from any ongoing public health emergencies.
Earlier this week, Crown Resorts joined the group of casinos already forced into closure. With the newly announced lockdowns across Western Australia, the Perth location of Crown has said it will remain closed until the end of the government’s lockdown advisory measure. Similarly, The Star has had to reign in operations in the city’s worst affected by the new strain of COVID. The continuation of standard operations in these cities has become completely untenable.
But this is not the case across the entire country. The Star has a venue in Brisbane remaining open, and so too is the Crown Resorts venue in Melbourne. These two particular cities have not been hit severely by the new COVID variant. Despite this, new restrictions on the guests inside the casino have been implemented. Only a maximum of 300 guests are allowed into the casino, social distancing has to be observed and almost half of the electronic gaming machines have been deactivated to ensure that guests remain an adequate distance apart.
