The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
London, UK | Several biggest industries across the whole globe have been affected on the first stage. The first sector was on tourism and air transportation. The flights got cancelled with rapid speed all over the world. Many airline companies declined and rescheduled flights to almost every single country. Once a sky full of planes and the trials was the ordinary thing, now seeing the plane means that some citizens are just coming home.
Countries like the UK and Australia, as well as Canada, have taken the decision to close borders completely within the last three days. The situation is slowly getting out of control, and everyone wants to be extremely prepared for it. All of the countries with the quarantine measures closed the bars, cinemas, theatres, restaurants, casinos and generally venues for massive gatherings. This is done as a preventative measure.
The City of Lights, Las Vegas, was the first to turn off the lights. Nevada was one of the first states in the US to close all of the casinos, strip bars, and restaurants. The city has never been as empty as now. Australia, the gambling capital of the region has also implemented several measures in order to prevent the outbreak. They have cut down the number of slot machines in the venues, in order to keep the social distance. The Australian government also banned the gathering of more than 500 people in the gambling venue.
Macau, the gambling capital of Asia took the very hard decision of closing all of its 42 casinos for 15 days, during the massive Covid-19 outbreak in China. This was the longest shut down period for the casino in history. The UK also decided to shut down the casino and other non-essential facilities last week. Canada is the next country to join the list.
Canada takes the next hit
According to the local sources, British Columbia will be the first state to shut down the casinos. The community gaming centres and bingo halls were shut on Monday. Besides British Columbia, the statement was made by the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation. The corporation, which owns ten biggest gaming facilities in the country has also introduced a number of measures. In Ontario, all facilities will also be shut down.
Casinos such as Hard Rock Casinos in Vancouver, River Rock Casino in Richmond, Elements Casino in Surrey, Chilliwack in Victoria, Hastings Racecourse and Casino in Vancouver and Chances in Maple Ridge and Dawson Creek are the ones undergoing changes. The number of slots has been cut by two. Every second slot machine is removed in order to keep social distance between players. The table games are also restricted. Not more than 5 people can sit around one single table. The casinos also have a daily cleaning procedure.
While the gambling industry is affected all across the world, land-based casinos are the easiest target. As far as the casino is considered to be the best social gathering places, they were almost the first ones to take the hit. The brick and mortar casinos might experience certain limitations, but the online gambling industry is flourishing. All the players who used to be frequent casino visitors have switched to online platforms. Online casinos are really popular among the citizens in Canada, though only within a week it has already seen a significant escalation in the traffic. The tendency is expected to increase even more.
While the situation in Canada is more or less mild, the nature of the virus is unpredictable. Just like any other country, Canada took all the necessary measures to prevent further infections. The non-essential flights were cancelled and now only citizens or people with permanent citizenship, along with US citizens are able to enter the country, but only with certain conditions of quarantine or self-isolation. Due to the massive changes in the aviation sector, some companies are forced to cut costs. Some of them have reduced the amount of fuel and cancelled all flights to central Europe and many other regions by the end of May. Other companies are forced to cut the staff. Some of them might not even survive the crisis unless there is some assistance.
Companies all over the world have to be held responsible in front of their employees and customers as well. Governments and private sectors have come together to fight the virus and survive the crisis. Though, unfortunately, many small businesses have already taken big hits and are very unlikely to recover. Even for that, be it the gambling industry or the aviation sector, companies, as well as the employees, should be ready to make the necessary and the most essential steps.
