Hours after Kansas City metro shuttered restaurants, Missouri gov closes casinos
Despite an order Monday night from Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas shuttering all restaurant dine-in services, Missouri casinos can remain open through midnight Tuesday.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced on Twitter early Tuesday afternoon that he had consulted with the chair of the Missouri Gaming Commission, which governs the state’s riverboat casinos. They will be closed starting at midnight and ending March 30 in an attempt to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19.
The order means casinos will stay open a full day longer than restaurants, which in Kansas City are limited under Lucas’ emergency declaration to drive-thru, carryout and delivery service. Restaurants are barred from serving dine-in customers. There appeared to be some confusion among elected and appointed officials as far back as the weekend regarding who had the authority to shutter the casinos.
On Twitter, Lucas urged the state to close casinos, but wasn’t sure that city governments had the authority to order it because they are governed by the state.
As of noon Tuesday, Ameristar Casino Hotel Kansas City remained open, as did some of its dining services. Isle of Capri Kansas City, which also lies in Kansas City proper, could not be immediately reached.
And several area casinos not in Kansas City proper, including Argosy Casino Hotel & Spa and Harrah’s North Kansas City, remained open, meaning residents could be handling cash and touching slot machine buttons, playing cards and dice.
Caesar’s Entertainment, which owns Harrah’s, said on its website that it was telling employees to wash hands more often while also providing more hand sanitizer for guests in high-traffic areas. Argosy’s said it was taking additional measures, including closing the facility for two hours each day for deep cleaning.
Tuesday morning, the state commission had not met yet in a public meeting to discuss COVID-19 and whether casinos should remain open while other businesses are being ordered to close.
But Mike Leara, who chairs the commission, said he had been in touch with Parson’s office since the weekend regarding the spread of coronavirus and how casinos should react.
Leara said it was his belief local health departments could shutter casinos and that the commission had requested casinos follow local guidelines. He said it was imperative the casinos close down because of the large-scale nature of their operations.
By mid-day Tuesday, Leara said officials decided it was in the state’s best interest to close casinos.
Commissioners reached by The Star prior to Parson’s announcement, including Daniel Finney III, a St. Louis attorney, weren’t sure what authority the group has to temporarily shutter the casinos.
“The last thing we want is that we could have done something and we didn’t do it,” Finney said. “What is our mandate? Is this something that we have to address, or are we even able to address, according to what our mandate is?”
Asked if he thought casinos should be closed to manage the spread of the coronavirus, Finney deferred.
“I think that’s a fair question, I’m not going to answer it at this time,” he said. “I will tell you we take our responsibility seriously and we are committed to doing the right thing.”
Brandon Boulware, a Kansas City attorney who is on the gaming commission, was unequivocal.
“We have not been asked to vote on the matter. But assuming we have the authority, I would absolutely vote to close down the casinos given the present circumstances,” Boulware said. “It’s a no brainer.”
Technically speaking, Leara said, the state is closing the casinos under the regulatory authority of the commission, which is allowed to suspend licensing where public health, safety or welfare is in jeopardy.
“So I think we clearly fall within that,” Leara said.
This story was originally published March 17, 2020 at 1:34 PM.
