Holland Casino to reopen land-based venues

All new safety measures including social distancing and increased sanitation measures will continue to apply as they did prior to the latest closures. Restaurants, bars and catering establishments throughout the nation will remain closed.

The venues closed for the second time this year on 4 November, following an increase in the number of cases of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19).

The initial closures in March as the pandemic began were scheduled to last until 1 September, however the date for reopening was brought forward to 1 July following criticism from the operator and industry association VAN Kansspelen.

In August, Dutch municipal health services received authorisation to close leisure establishments, including casinos, if they traced an outbreak of Covid-19 to the location.

This was followed by the introduction of a new curfew in September, which ruled that casinos and slots halls in five regions of the Netherlands must be fully closed by 1:00AM each day. The curfew was subsequently extended to additional regions in the nation.

In August, Holland Casino announced its turnover had fallen by 58.7%, €146.3m (£131.6m/$171.5m) for the first half of 2020, as gains made in the first months of the year were wiped out by several months of lockdown.

Casinos in France, Germany and Italy remain closed as governments in those nations continue to use lockdown restrictions as a way of bringing the incidence cases of Covid-19 under control. Venues across the UK also remain closed as the nation reaches the halfway point of a second national lockdown.