Normal casino service returns to New Zealand

In New Zealand and local casino operator SkyCity Entertainment Group Limited has announced that its trio of gambling-friendly facilities have been fully re-opened with no coronavirus-related social distancing protocols.

The Wellington and Sydney-listed firm used an official filing to detail that it made the move after the government of New Zealand lowered its four-tier coronavirus alert warning to Level One, which effectively eliminated all of the nation’s previous pandemic-associated restrictions except those concerning foreign travel.

Simultaneous shutdown:

SkyCity Entertainment Group Limited is responsible for casinos in the New Zealand communities of Auckland, Hamilton and Queenstown and was required to temporarily shutter the three venues from March 23 as part of a government-led campaign to help stop the spread of a coronavirus strain that has killed 22 locals.

Restricted revival:

However, the operator was permitted to partially re-open these enterprises some 26 days ago under a new ‘health management framework’ that saw their gaming floors split into distinct ‘zones’ not simultaneously allowed to contain any more than 100 people. The firm’s venues moreover began welcoming gamblers again after increasing the distance between their slots, lowering the number of seats at their gaming tables and eliminating the practice of ‘back betting.’

Fully functional:

Graeme Stephens, Chief Executive Officer for SkyCity, used the short filing to declare that all of these earlier mass gathering and social distancing constraints have now been removed and that his firm’s venues will soon be returning to ‘normal hours’ and recommence all promotions and events.

Read a statement from Stephens…

“We are extremely excited to be welcoming customers back to our precincts. It will be fantastic to be busy again and able to have the public enjoy the many different facets of our properties. We remain committed to maintaining robust health and safety standards to manage the risks associated with coronavirus and will be encouraging customers to maintain contact tracing via the government’s NZ Covid Tracer app.”