Las Vegas area bars and bar top slot machines reopening Sunday after 2-month shutdown

Nevada’s COVID-19 Task Force gave the go-ahead Thursday for Las Vegas-area customers to again belly up to their favorite bar top following more than two months of pandemic-related closure.

Standalone bars and bar top areas inside taverns, restaurants, and casinos in Clark County can reopen those spaces on Sunday at 11:59 p.m. Bar tops in Nevada normally contain slot machines that comprise the vast majority of the state’s restricted gaming business – locations with 15 or fewer slot machines.

The bar tops have been closed in Clark County by directive of Gov. Steve Sisolak since July 10, due to a spike in COVID-19 cases. Many restricted gaming locations reverted to standalone slot machines or sit down “buddy bars” to keep slot machine gaming active.

Grocery stores, convenience stores, and drug stores, many of which also have restricted gaming slot machines, were not affected by the governor’s directive.

A group of tavern owners in Clark County filed a lawsuit in early August in an effort to reverse the governor’s decision, but a judge ruled Sisolak was within his power as governor to close the bars and bar top areas in an effort to slow the pandemic.

The directive also affected bars inside casinos in the Las Vegas Valley, including both Strip properties and locals-oriented casinos. Red Rock Resorts CEO Frank Fertitta III, whose company has a dozen neighborhood casinos and resorts, told analysts in August that roughly 650 bar top slot machines were taken out of service at the company’s properties to comply with the governor’s directive.

Restricted gaming operators complained the July shutdown was unfair. Their locations were first closed on March 18, when Sisolak shutdown the gaming industry statewide for 78 days in an effort to slow the pandemic.

Tavern and bar operators said they had gone to great expense to comply with the Gaming Control Board-mandated health, safety, cleaning, and social distancing guidelines for their bar top slots, including the addition of plexiglass dividers between games.

Those protocols are still in place. In a note to licensees Thursday afternoon, Control Board Chairwoman Sandra Douglass Morgan noted the gaming operators need to continue to comply with the guidelines. Clark County officials Thursday told the task force their focus will be on enforcement on individual businesses, rather than the entire restricted gaming industry.

Nevada COVID-19 Response Director Caleb Cage, who is the task force chairman, noted that Clark County has made significant progress in bringing down its infection numbers, from a high of 1,006.8 cases per 100,000 residents in early August to 390.2 as of Monday.

In a statement after the ruling, Sisolak said mitigation measures undertaken by Nevada residents allowed the task force to lift the restrictions placed on bars.

“I have consistently been in support of safely lifting restrictions and reopening areas of our economic and social life based on improvements in our data, in addition to strong participation and enforcement plans from local governments,” Sisolak said. “The work completed by the Task Force over previous weeks, in addition to their recent actions, represent the State’s commitment to a transparent process, a safe reopening, and coordinated partnerships with our local governments.”

Cage said the letters submitted by bar owners and bar employees, expressing a commitment to health and safety guidelines, helped in the task force’s decision.

Nevada taxes restricted gaming locations through quarterly and annual fees per machine, far different than casinos, which pay 6.75% monthly on taxable gaming revenue in excess of $134,000.

For the first five games, the quarterly fee paid to the state is $81 per machine. The locations pay $141 per quarter for each of the next 10 machines. Under the formula, the total annual tax for a location with 15 slot machines is $11,010.