The Journal spoke with half a dozen casino employees, including some who have resigned due to safety concerns since the casinos reopened and all of whom requested anonymity out of fear for their current or future jobs.

And while both gambling venues have shared plans for reducing risk with cleaning and social distancing protocols, some employees have resigned rather than return to their posts. However, both Bear River and Cher-Ae Heights casinos have opened their doors over the objections of county health officials. Blue Lake Casino has told the Journal it's waiting until at least mid-June and that plans could shift depending on local, state and federal guidelines. However, casinos on sovereign Native land, like all those operating in Humboldt, are not obligated to follow state and local shelter-in-place regulations. Instead, they submitted a letter of resignation.Ĭalifornia is currently in stage 2 of opening and won't allow mass gatherings of people from separate households in one space - nightclubs, sporting events, street festivals - until stage 4, when the stay-at-home order ends. and Sunday rolled around,' the employee said, adding that human resources offered them the option of switching to a position with less customer contact but they still didn't feel comfortable. The dealer can reach every spot at the table so it's certainly not 6 feet away.'Īs the May 18 orientation meeting drew near, they said they and other employees were hearing that county officials were asking the casino not to open.

'A blackjack table is only about 6 feet itself so I don't see how you can have social distance between people. 'Everything gets touched by everybody and there's just not a way to keep it clean,' they said over the phone. They said that 'just having that many people in one place' made them uneasy, along with the idea of handling money and chips. One decade-long veteran of the casino floor who asked to remain anonymous so as not to hurt future employment prospects at local casinos, said that in the downtime since shelter in place began March 20, they'd been watching the news about COVID-19 and didn't feel right about casinos reopening while going to bars and mass gatherings were still forbidden. The plan was to open for high rollers and VIPs on May 22 and to the general public two days later. On May 12, staffers received word from their manager at Bear River Casino Resort saying it would be opening in 10 days and employees were expected to attend a May 18 training at the casino.

Bear river casino jobs