{"id":171764,"date":"2021-04-24T23:53:17","date_gmt":"2021-04-25T06:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=171764"},"modified":"2021-04-25T14:00:18","modified_gmt":"2021-04-25T21:00:18","slug":"covid-order-forces-great-canadian-to-close-halifax-casino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-order-forces-great-canadian-to-close-halifax-casino\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 Order Closes Great Canadian Halifax Casino, Just Two Venues Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

Great Canadian Gaming Corp. on Friday announced that the company has shut down its casino in the Maritimes province capital. The move came after Nova Scotia officials ordering the COVID-19 closure of certain businesses in the Halifax area,<\/p>\n

\"Great
Great Canadian Gaming Corp. announced Friday that it shut down its Casino Nova Scotia – Halifax (shown above) Thursday night in accordance with an order from Nova Scotia officials. The move means only two of the gaming company’s 25 Canadian properties are currently open. (Image: Ben MacLeod\/Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The closure of Casino Nova Scotia \u2013 Halifax took place at 11:59 pm Atlantic time Thursday. It comes as COVID cases have increased to levels the province of about 1 million residents had not seen since a year ago.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Nova Scotia officials reported 52 new cases and 201 active coronavirus cases. The vast majority, 44 and 153 new and active cases respectively, are in the province\u2019s central region, where Halifax is located.<\/p>\n

Provincial authorities urged residents in the region to travel only for necessary reasons. Those would include going to school, work, health care appointments, and legal appointments.<\/p>\n

\n

Travel for shopping, social events, family visits, practices, or rehearsals are not considered necessary,\u201d the Nova Scotia statement read.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Officials said the order will stay in place until at least May 20.<\/p>\n

With the Halifax casino announcement, only two of Great Canadian\u2019s 25 casinos and other gaming properties remain open.<\/p>\n

Only Casino New Brunswick and Casino Nova Scotia \u2013 Sydney remain open. Sydney is located in a different region of Nova Scotia and not subject to Thursday\u2019s order.\u00a0Both casinos currently operate under restrictions.<\/p>\n

That includes all of the company\u2019s operations in Ontario and British Columbia<\/p>\n

Woodbine CEO Frustrated<\/h2>\n

Great Canadian, whose shareholders agreed to a takeover<\/a> by Apollo Global Management late last year, isn\u2019t the only gaming company that\u2019s been affected by Canadian provincial government actions.<\/p>\n

This past week, Woodbine Entertainment Group CEO Jim Lawson lashed out at Ontario officials in the Toronto Sun<\/i><\/a>. He complained about what he considers inconsistent policy regarding sporting events. Woodbine operates thoroughbred and harness racing in the county\u2019s largest province.<\/p>\n

Currently, trainers and other horsemen can work with horses, but they cannot race at either of the company\u2019s facilities. Meanwhile, just miles away from Woodbine\u2019s two Toronto-area tracks, the NHL\u2019s Toronto Maple Leafs are able to play games indoors.<\/p>\n

Lawson told the newspaper he no longer wants to give people hope that racing will resume in the near future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had good discussions, but nothing seems to be happening,\u201d said Lawson, referring to talks he\u2019s had with Toronto and Ontario officials. \u201cI\u2019m banging my head against the wall. I don\u2019t even know where to turn anymore. It\u2019s not like I\u2019m not having the right discussions with the right people. But someone has to spend an hour \u2013 whatever the time is \u2013 to go through what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Great Canadian Eager for Vaccine Rollout<\/h2>\n

The major issue for Canada in terms of the COVID-19 pandemic right now is its lack of access to vaccines<\/a>. As reported on\u00a0NPR\u2019s All Things Considered<\/i><\/a>, the country lacks the ability to produce vaccines. Typically, Canada relies on the United States to produce and export the pharmaceuticals the country\u2019s residents need.<\/p>\n

The difference between the two countries is stark.<\/p>\n

\n

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 26.9 percent of Americans have been fully vaccinated and 40.9 percent have received at least one dose. In Canada, the nation\u2019s Public Health Agency reports 24.2 percent of residents there have received at least one dose. Less than 2.4 percent of Canadians have received two.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In a statement, Great Canadian Interim CEO Terrance Doyle said as the vaccination program grows, the company looks forward to seeing restrictions ease.<\/p>\n

“This has been a particularly difficult period for our thousands of team members across the country. But we are fully equipped and prepared to reopen in a safe and sustainable manner as conditions improve in our communities,\u201d Doyle said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Great Canadian Gaming Corp. on Friday announced that the company has shut down its casino in the Maritimes province capital. The move came after Nova Scotia officials ordering the COVID-19 closure of certain businesses in the Halifax area, The closure of Casino Nova Scotia \u2013 Halifax took place at 11:59 pm Atlantic time Thursday. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":171765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13592],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCOVID Order Forces Great Canadian to Close Halifax Casino<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The closure ordered by Nova Scotia officials means that only 2 of Great Canadian's 25 casinos and other gaming venues are now open.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-order-forces-great-canadian-to-close-halifax-casino\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"COVID Order Forces Great Canadian to Close Halifax Casino\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The closure ordered by Nova Scotia officials means that only 2 of Great Canadian's 25 casinos and other gaming venues are now open.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-order-forces-great-canadian-to-close-halifax-casino\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-25T06:53:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-25T21:00:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/1280px-Casino_Nova_Scotia.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"877\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-order-forces-great-canadian-to-close-halifax-casino\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-order-forces-great-canadian-to-close-halifax-casino\/\",\"name\":\"COVID Order Forces Great Canadian to Close Halifax Casino\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-order-forces-great-canadian-to-close-halifax-casino\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-order-forces-great-canadian-to-close-halifax-casino\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/1280px-Casino_Nova_Scotia.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-25T06:53:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-25T21:00:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\"},\"description\":\"The closure ordered by Nova Scotia officials means that only 2 of Great Canadian's 25 casinos and other gaming venues are now open.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-order-forces-great-canadian-to-close-halifax-casino\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-order-forces-great-canadian-to-close-halifax-casino\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/covid-order-forces-great-canadian-to-close-halifax-casino\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/1280px-Casino_Nova_Scotia.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/1280px-Casino_Nova_Scotia.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":877,\"caption\":\"Great Canadian Gaming Corp. announced Friday that it shut down its Casino Nova Scotia - Halifax Thursday night in accordance with an order from Nova Scotia officials. 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