THE PLAYER EXPERIENCE WHEN CARDROOMS REOPEN

On June 5, California’s Governor issued State guidelines for the re-opening of california cardrooms. The guidelines address sanitizing, hand washing, distancing or alternative measures such as plexiglass barriers, the wearing of masks, and other safety procedures. Before re-opening, cardrooms will need to be in a County that has met State readiness requirements, need to develop written safety plans, and coordinate their opening with local public health orders.

Under the guidelines and local public health orders, what will the experience be like for our customers?

At least at the beginning, customers will have temperature checks and wear masks. The cardroom games also may look different. There may be plexiglass barriers, and movement around the cardroom may be subject to marked lanes. It may be difficult to operate short-handed poker games with only a few players per table, so poker games may not open immediately. Some games may be dealt face up so players don’t have to touch their cards. And don’t be surprised if the game mix changes and there are new games to try that are easier to operate under the new procedures.

Of course any procedures will be subject to public health orders and guidance, which may change over time. But hopefully our customers will understand and become accustomed to the new procedures, as well as exploring new games.

The new health and safety protocols may initially include:

• Temperature checks
• Using masks
• Hand washing and sanitizing
• New cleaning procedures before a customer takes a chair
• Removing chairs or using plexiglass partitions between seats
• New air systems that kill many germs
• Health checks on employees
• New procedures for signing up, waiting for a seat or using the cage
• Food service changes