Many countries have begun to close the economy and Casinos again due to the rebound in new COVID-19 cases of contagion. SriLanka, Korea, United Kingdom, Austria, Australia, Spain, are some of the countries that we could name and that seem to be very far from Colombia.
We believed the same when we heard in November 2019 news of the first outbreaks of COVID in Wuhan "that is very far, over there in China, it does not arrive here" ... and months later we were in quarantine.
The last country to close has been Spain, in the past weeks it has decreed the confinement in several communities, and casinos and bingo halls were not the exception to this measure that came at the most inconvenient moment because they were experiencing a mini-calm time as there were no ways Alternative entertainment since restaurants and drinking places closed very early. The same could happen if the accelerated spikes of contagion continue in Colombia.
Dozens of operators have been able to open Casinos in major cities, but many still have their businesses closed because establishments have not been authorized to operate in municipalities where the mayors themselves have taken the opportunity to prohibit in several cases the activity "taking under the rug, non-compliance for being new businesses ... they have been closed for 6-7 months and have had to request the use of land again" which is a rogue!
In Colombian intermediate cities such as Monteria only until this October 18, 2020 the green light was given, in Cartagena the economy is not reactivated but the casinos have opened despite the low income; Barranquilla haven’t start and we could continue naming cases, which is not the real reason for this column; The message we want to leave today is a call not to lower our guard, to take extreme measures, improve processes, and the quality of the products that are being used for disinfection. In the visits that Health ministry has carried out at the moment, it does not register Casinos Suspended of activity, but it happens that so far they have not started visits to our sector.
If there is a new closure to the Localized Gambling (Casinos), the industry in general would be in serious trouble because other months of confinement cannot support it.
This is therefore a call to continue and improve with the Protocols, the care of our players in order not to be identified as a source of contagion, it is not that we consider that we continue with the stigma, it is that we believe that the associations have had a titanic work to demonstrate the readiness of the sector and we must set an example ... in addition to taking care of our economy.
