Casinos in Peru Reopen, 40,000 People Return to Work

Casinos in Peru are restarting operations after a Supreme Decree has been passed allowing gaming operations to pick up once again at 40% capacity.

Peru’s Casinos Restart Operations

Peru is hitting the restart button on its brick-and-mortar casino industry, as the government has green-lighted a move allowing it to restart operations at 40% capacity across gaming venues, gyms, theaters, and cinemas, the El Peruano official gazette reported.

The resumption of casino activity is part of the Supreme Decree No. 187-2020-PCM which is focused on Phase 4 of the Economic Recovery and part of the broader National Health Emergency designed to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last week, President of Peru Francisco Sagasti confirmed that the casino sector is looking at an early reopening date sometime this week. The present reopening comes as a relief to the casino business which was forced to remain shuttered since mid-March when the pandemic first started.

Despite that, the original reopening bid was a little delayed, the President said, adding that the restart of operations should have taken place in August, but the specificity of the process made resumption of activity impossible. One of the hurdles was the drafting of a special decree that has already arrived, and Peru is opening up for business once again.

Even though some industry insiders, including Carlos Rojas, President of the Association of Tourism and Entertainment Centers of Peru, seemed skeptical at first, President Sagasti has been able to deliver on his promise.

A Relief for a Vital Industry

Peru’s casino industry is vital for the country and it employees over 87,000 people directly. Having the restart button hit means that some 40% people can return back to their work places, Rojas confirmed, commenting on the restart of casino operations.

Understandably, the sector will see and have to stick to strict healthy and safety measures, such as mandatory wearing of face coverings by employees and staff, social distancing and more. A week ago, Peru’s casino workers rallied with over 50,000 preparing to participate in multiple strikes across the country in an attempt to force the government to restart casinos.

None of this will be necessary, as Peru joins the countries where the casino industry is making a slow but determined return.