The health and safety of employees, staff, team members, guests, and Whatcom County community remains a top priority of Silver Reef Casino Resort as it begins the reopening process on May 21, 2020 with a soft opening for Lummi Nation Tribal members, the general public reopening will begin on May 22, 2020. The extended temporary closure was part of the public solution to contain COVID-19.
“The closure of Silver Reef Casino Resort has come at a tremendous price for our employees that we had to furlough.” said Marty Sauvage, CEO of Silver Reef Casino Resort. “We are pleased to be able to bring many of them back to work under the safest possible conditions.”
“This decision was made with careful consideration of the well-being of guests, employees and tribal members,” said Lawrence Solomon, Chairman of the Lummi Indian Business Council. “We have worked closely with our Lummi Public Health Team and taken every available precaution to minimize the risk.”
Confirmed cases at Lummi Nation and in Whatcom County continue to decrease.
“Silver Reef Casino Resort has been in constant contact with Lummi Health Department and engaging with local, regional and national health officials, and feel well positioned due to our enhanced cleaning techniques and technologies to open to the public,” said Sauvage. “We are following best practices from the CDC and have had our operating and sanitizing plan approved by Tribal officials.”
As one of the largest employers in Whatcom County, Silver Reef Casino Resort employs hundreds of team members and provides critical funding for Lummi Nation’s essential government services.
“We know many employees need to get back to work in order to support their families,” said Sauvage. “Our employees’ health is paramount. At the recommendation of the Lummi Public Health Department, we are taking precautionary measures in order to mitigate risk. We will be conducting daily temperature tests, providing masks, enhancing sanitization measures, and implementing other safety measures to protect our staff and patrons.”
“During this temporary closure we have implemented numerous changes to prepare ourselves to reopen,” he added. “We have reduced the available gaming positions by 50% through removal of chairs, taking machines out of service and reorienting machines to increase social distancing.”
“When you come back to Silver Reef, you will notice changes that may impact the guest experience.” said Sauvage, “Our phased approach will include opening the Hotel in early June and while those safety changes may seem unfamiliar in our gaming environment, you will still be treated to the same outstanding service you know by friendly faces you have missed.”
Silver Reef Enhanced Protective Measures
Required for Entry –
- Virtual Queuing – Guest must have valid phone number to enter, guests will be required to stay in the car until time to enter the building.
- Valid ID – Guests must have.
- Temperature Checks – for all guests.
- Mask – we will provide one if guest do not have one.
- Physical Distancing – We will only be operating the building at 50% capacity to create space.
- Practice 6ft separation from other groups when walking property, using elevators, or standing inline.
- Added plexiglass shields across the property to create barriers to protect guests and employees.
- Table games will only allow 3 players at a table. All table games will be non-smoking and opened to create social distancing.
- Table games players will not be allowed to touch cards.
- We have removed machines from the floor and rearranged banks to allow for social distancing. We will also be turning off machines to create distance when appropriate.
- Increased nonsmoking section by over 200%
- Floor Markers – Floor markers are deployed in high traffic areas.