Gila River Hotels & Casinos – Wild Horse Pass, Lone Butte and Vee Quiva To Reopen on May 15, 2020

Gaming enterprise reopens with enhanced safety procedures including employee COVID-19 testing

CHANDLER, Ariz. – Gila River Gaming Enterprises, Inc. announces the reopening of Gila River Hotels & Casinos – Wild Horse Pass, Lone Butte and Vee Quiva on May 15, 2020 at noon. The two hotels will remain closed, slated to reopen June 15, 2020.

“To ensure the continued health and safety of our guests and employees, the enterprise has significantly modified the operations and gaming floors to achieve safety procedures above the recommended guidelines,” said Kenneth Manuel, Chief Executive Officer of Gila River Hotels & Casinos. “These changes include restrictions on the number of seats per table games and bingo sessions, redesigned slot floors, and plexiglass partitions. We have taken every prudent measure and precaution to create a safe and clean environment.”

Gila River Hotels & Casinos, in partnership with Steward Health Care, has required all employees to be tested for COVID-19 before returning to work. Retesting will occur every two weeks to ensure that employees who are working are testing negative.

Further operational changes include the removal of poker rooms at Wild Horse Pass and Vee Quiva, allowing space for non-smoking slot areas and increased distance between machines. Plexiglass partitions have been installed between slot machines and table games for enhanced physical distancing. Additionally, bingo modifications allow for only three people per table, with a maximum of 210 players per session. At this time, bingo will only be offered at Vee Quiva and Lone Butte’s bingo operations will be temporarily closed. Furthermore, food & beverage options are modified for safety.

The enterprise is also pleased to announce enhanced cleaning and sanitization methods. To ensure all necessary cleaning procedures are performed to the highest standard, additional cleaning ambassadors will be assigned to the casino floors specifically to clean frequent public touch points like slot machines, chairs, kiosks, and table games. The enterprise has also partnered with IGT, a gaming manufacture, to install new technology software that will send a notification to cleaning ambassadors when a machine is ready for cleaning.

Gila River Hotels & Casinos will continue to monitor updates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS), and will update its safety protocols and procedures as necessary.

For more information on the reopening and details around the safety plan, please visit here.

About Gila River Hotels & Casinos
Gila River Hotels & Casinos operates three Arizona casinos owned by the Gila River Indian Community: Wild Horse Pass, Lone Butte, and Vee Quiva.

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