Turning Stone Casino Opens For Business As Upstate NY Continues To Reopen Gambling Market

Tribal casinos in Upstate New York are slowly beginning to reopen as the cases of COVID-19 continues to drop throughout the state.

The trend continued this morning as Turning Stone Resort Casino, one of New York’s larger casinos, and home to the Empire State Hold’em Championship, reopened at 8 a.m.

According to Syracuse.com, guests were arriving as early as 3 a.m. to get in line, which further proved that the U.S. gaming market is headed for a strong rebound after casinos were closed for several months in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Oneida Nation, the tribe that owns Turning Stone, also opened its other Upstate properties this morning. Yellow Brick Road Casino in Chittenango and Point Place Casino in Bridgeport joined Turning Stone in opening its doors for business again. Turning Stone is located just outside Syracuse in Verona.

“We’re very excited to see people here as we head down the road to getting back to normal,” Oneida Nation representative Ray Halbritter told Syracuse.com.

Turning Stone is implementing several safety protocols to help curb the spread of germs on the gaming floor.

The most unique protocol involves only allowing entry to those that live within 120 miles of the casino. It allows a wide swath of New York State residents to come and play, but those who live downstate, and closer to New York City, one of the major hotspots of the virus, would not be allowed inside.

Pictures were taken of every guest and IDs were matched with photographs in case there was a need for contact tracing. Other safety requirements include the use of a mask from everyone inside the building, limiting restaurants to seat a maximum of four people at a single table and enhanced sanitizing measures.

Since the properties are owned by a tribal nation, they are not bound to edicts from the state government. Instead, they are able to open at their discretion. The Cayuga Nation began opening its gambling facilities in mid-May, while other tribes in Western New York are planning to launch in late-June.

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