Coast casinos say keeping gamers safe from COVID-19 is just good business

D'IBERVILLE, Miss. (WPMI) — Crystal light fixtures, gleaming white carpet, bright brass railings, and attention to every luxurious detail. The media preview of The Scarlet Pearl's new upscale Orchid Gaming Room is meant to draw the high rollers who want something more. Staff members at the casino in D'Iberville, Mississippi, are eager to show off their new prize to the media.

"We want to make sure that when people come into our high limit room, they don't want to leave," says marketing director Ben Koff. "They want to stay and enjoy themselves."

No doubt about it, you get treated a little bit differently here in the Orchid Room. But, when it comes to COVID-19 and player safety, what happens in the Orchid Room is the same thing that happens out on the main floor.

Yes, customers to Biloxi's gaming halls are well aware that there's a pandemic going on, but they still come.

And the casinos and the Mississippi Gaming Commission want them to keep it in mind while they're here.

Cleansing wipes stands are everywhere. So are hand sanitizing stations.

And if you bought stock in Plexiglas? Well, you've already hit the jackpot. There are sheets of it separating gamers. Some chairs are removed to keep gamers apart.

Employees try to immediately sanitize every screen and chair when someone moves on.

And it all starts with a temperature check as you walk in the door before you even hit the gaming floor.

But Scarlet Pearl's CEO LuAnn Pappas says they don't just take your temperature here.

"We do a customer survey weekly,” Pappas says. “But in addition to that, we have an 'in-box' on social media. That is what we consistently see: how light, how bright, how friendly, and the smell is very good. As you can tell, we have a fabulous high-vac system in it."

Not everyone can walk away rich, but you should be able to walk away healthy.

"It's good business,” says Koff, “because people want to feel safe."

The Orchid Room at The Scarlet Pear in D’Iberville opens Sunday, Sept. 6.