Ontario Casinos Get OK to Reopen by as Early as This Friday as COVID Cases Wane



Great Canadian Gaming Corp. announced on Monday it will take the necessary action to reopen 11 of their casinos in Canada’s most populous province.

After Ontario leaders changed course on Friday, Great Canadian Gaming Corp. announced on Monday it will take the necessary action to reopen 11 of their casinos in Canada’s most populous province this Friday.

This Friday, July 16, is the new date that Ontario will enter into Step Three of its COVID Reopening Plan. Previously, officials had said that the province wouldn’t enter that phase until at least 21 days after entering Step Two, which the province entered on July 1.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said last Friday, July 9, that the province surpassed the benchmarks necessary to enter the next phase.

For casinos, that means they will be able to open at 50 percent capacity by the end of this week.

The expedited reopening date comes after representatives from the Canadian Gaming Association, national tourism and hospitality officials, and Ontario municipal leaders, called for the province to reopen casinos and other tourist attractions.

For most of 2021, while US casinos enjoyed a strong reopening – even at reduced capacities due to COVID social distancing guidelines – their Canadian counterparts for the most part remained closed as the provinces did not have the same access to vaccines early in the year. That led to a prolonged wave of cases that taxed hospitals and other health resources.

Great Canadian CEO: Staff Displayed "Resilience"

The Great Canadian venues that will reopen this Friday are: Casino Woodbine, Great Blue Heron Casino, Casino Ajax, Elements Casino Mohawk, Elements Casino Flamboro, Elements Casino Brantford, Elements Casino Grand Rivers, Shorelines Casino Belleville, Shorelines Casino Peterborough, Shorelines Casino Thousand Islands, and Shorelines Slots at Kawartha Downs.

Great Canadian Interim CEO Terrance Doyle said in a statement that the company is prepared to have thousands of workers return to their jobs.

In Monday’s release, Great Canadian added that the Pickering Casino Resort will open its gaming floor in the near future. Before the pandemic, it was slated to open in April 2020. While company officials said the casino will open in the short term, the rest of the resort’s amenities open next year.

Great Canadian owns 14 properties in Ontario. Two of those are harness tracks. Georgian Downs is already open and holding races, even though the bettors and spectators aren’t allowed to watch races at the Innisfill track. Flamboro Downs will resume live racing in September, but for now, the Dundas venue remains closed as well.

The company also owns and operates casinos in British Columbia, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

Windsor, Niagara Casinos Planning Reopening

Great Canadian isn’t the only casino operator in the province.

Casino Niagara, which along with Fallsview Casino Resort is owned by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. and operated by Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment, tweeted Sunday that the two properties “are reviewing the requirements” and will announce a reopening date in the near future.

Those two casinos employ more than 4,000 people, Burns said in a press conference last week.

Caesars Windsor, which operates across from Detroit, plans to make their reopening announcement as early as Tuesday.

Those three southern casinos, which sit directly across the US border, attract more than 12 million visitors annually, Burns said last week. About 25 percent come from outside Ontario.

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