Iconic Las Vegas Strip casinos back in business after historic closure

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — You know it’s important when Wayne Newton shows up -- in a tux.

"In case you’re wondering why I’m dressed like this, after having been off three months, I had to make sure that it still fits," Mr. Las Vegas said to a battery of cameras. He came to Caesars Palace Thursday morning to help reopen the property.

"Caesars Palace opened in August of 1966 and never closed its doors for 54 years until a couple of months ago," said Caesars CEO Tony Rodio, as he took part in a mid-morning opening ceremony.

Caesars, like all other Nevada gaming companies, shut down in March to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.

“Without further adieu, let’s get Caesars Palace reopened,” Rodio said, leading dozens of people into the resort’s check-in area.

Just a few minutes later, the first rolls of the dice took place in one of this city's most iconic resorts. Outside the main entrance, we met three men from Texas who were among the first guests to check-in.

“It's exciting. We're excited to be here,” said visitor Thomas Winkler.

And Caesars is excited to have them. At 12:01 am, gaming companies across the valley got the green light to reopen.

Later Thursday morning, at Bellagio, the fountain came back on. J.R. Irvin came from Houston to spend a few days. He wouldn't miss it.

“I'm extremely excited to be here. We've been waiting since February to be here again. So we're really excited. It's great to see this city come back,” Irvin told News 3.

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The gaming industry that is back is different: Along with fun, health and safety are now part of the sales pitch.

“The entire property has been sanitized...every hotel room, the gaming floor, the restaurants - we're ready to welcome our guests,” said Caesars Palace general manager Sean McBurney. “You'll see a lot of masks. All of our employees will be in masks, we're going to strongly encourage our guests to wear masks. We'll make a mask available to anyone who would like one.”

Need a mask? Guards stationed by the doors at Caesars will give you one. Did you book a room? You have to get checked first, passing through a thermal screener. No high temperature? You're good to check-in.

It’s what Kit Pierce did, who came here as part of that Texas trio. We asked him why it was important to be here.

“To try and just be ourselves again. To not let the situation kind of destroy what it is to just have a normal life, some resemblance of normalcy,” Pierce says.

Normal. It’s something this city hasn't seen in a while.