Is The Island Casino In Escanaba Michigan Open
- Is The Island Casino In Escanaba Michigan Open Today
- Is The Island Casino In Escanaba Michigan Open Back-up
- Is The Island Casino In Escanaba Michigan Open 2019
CLICK TO HEAR JACK HALL’S INTERVIEW WITH TONY MANCILLA
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The Island Resort and Casino is ready to re-open its doors.
Casino General Manager Tony Mancilla announced on Friday that they’ll start to re-open on Wednesday, May 6 at 8:00 am Eastern Time.
“We’ve been open continuously since December 20th, 1985,” Mancilla told the Radio Results Network Friday morning. “The past six weeks have been long. We’ve been trying to keep the building maintained, working on the equipment. But it’s time to re-open.”
The governor extended her orders to keep most businesses closed until May 28, including casinos. But those are state-regulated casinos, and Mancilla says it does not apply to his, which is owned by the Hannahville Indian Community. He says they closed on March 21st voluntarily, not because the governor told them to.
“We use her orders as guidelines,” Mancilla said. “We’re going to be re-opening on May 6th, and May 8th we’re going to be opening up our golf courses, and on May 13th, we’ll open up our hotel. There’s a lot of guidance out there from the state on keeping things clean and operating as a restaurant, for example. We’ve been taking those into consideration, but the brass tacks is she doesn’t have jurisdiction over Indian Country. We make our own decision.”
Mancilla says they are counting on their customers to be smart when it comes to social distancing guidelines.
“Once people are on the floor, it’s their own responsibility,” Mancilla said. “If they’re in the bar, and they want to stand next to somebody, we’re not going to make them stand apart. They probably came in the same car, or their best friend’s, you don’t know, maybe they’re married. So, they’re going to have to be responsible for themselves. It’s like when you get on a bus, and there’s an empty seat, what’s the first thing you do? You say ‘can I sit in this seat’? It’s just proper manners. The people who are here are going to want to be here.”
Mancillia says they are taking some precautions to help keep people safe, including thorough cleaning of the facility.
“We’ll be taking their temperature at the door,” he said. “We’ll post some guidelines on our web site and let them know what we’re doing for our employees. We’ll have the plexiglass guards. We’ll offer customers a mask, if they want one. We’ll have the lines that distance people out. And once you’re on the slot floor, we’ve taken chairs and spaced them out.”
He says the food service will be served in a way where you can sit down and eat, you just won’t have silverware and porcelain plates. You’ll get to-go containers. and you can sit down and eat there.
As for the golf courses, Mancilla says tee times will be spread out every 15 minutes rather than every ten minutes, and the cups will be set up so you don’t have to reach in to get the ball. Every group of carts will have their own rakes.
“If a customer doesn’t want to sit with a customer in a cart, then they can opt to have their own cart,” Mancilla said. “Once again, most people coming for a golf trip are riding in the car together to get here. They’re going to get into the cart together, they’re going to ride around and that’s fine.”
Management of the casino has worked with the Nevada and National Indian Gaming Commission standards and procedures to safeguard its customers and employees. The Casino was closed on March 21, 2020 and will have been closed for seven weeks. The reopening of the Island Resort will take place in the following phases:
- Slot floor, Bingo, and Food and Beverage on May 6.
- Golf Courses on May 8.
- Hotel on May 13.
- Spa, Convention Center, Table Games, and the Showroom to be determined at a later date.
Mancilla says hat “all industry precautions are being taken at this time. The facility will be cleaned and sanitized on a continual basis. Food and beverage will be served in to-go containers and customers will be offered their own golf cart if requested. Customers and employees will be temperature checked at the facility doors.”
“Per CDC guidelines any person with temperature over 100 degrees will not be permitted in the facility. There will be hand sanitizers throughout the Casino and masks upon request.”
The Island Resort Management is taking all precautions for its employees and asks that the customers review the guidelines on the website prior to coming next week. We ask the customers to be mindful of others while they enjoy their experience at the Island Resort. (islandresortandcasino.com)
After more than a month with no bets in the state, one Michigan casino was planning to reopen Wednesday.
But after the Upper Peninsula’s Island Resort and Casino decided to change course and not open this week, what Michigan casino will be the first one to open?
Detroit’s three commercial casinos are closed through at least May 28 because of an executive order from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to fight the spread of COVID-19. Greektown Casino-Hotel, MGM Grand Detroit and MotorCity Casino have been closed since March 16.
But since 23 of Michigan’s 26 casinos are operated by the state’s 12 federally recognized Native American tribes, that leaves the decision to open in their hands as they are autonomous.
Island Resort and Casino reschedules reopening
The Hannahville Indian Community announced Friday it would reopen the Island Resort and Casino this Wednesday.
The Harris casino, near Escanaba, had been closed since March 21 with an originally planned reopening on April 6. After a few extensions of that date, Wednesday will be exactly one month later than the original plan.
However, the casino reversed course on Tuesday night, saying instead they plan to reopen on May 16.
The casino was planning to have several precautions in place to keep customers safe, including temperature checks at the casino entrance, plexiglass barriers between some players, and only slot machines opening at first.
The rest of the facility, including the golf courses and hotel, would open later on a phased-in approach.
Reaction mixed about casino reopening plans
The original announcement, pinned to the top of the casino’s Facebook page, was doing huge engagement numbers compared to the norm.
As of Tuesday morning, nearly 600 had shared the post and more than 600 people commented on it, with a huge range in sentiment from support to heavy criticism.
But the postponement of the opening was also met with big numbers, with 650 shares on Tuesday night about, three hours after it was posted.
Upper Peninsula, northern Michigan could open first
The Upper Peninsula has not been hit nearly as hard by the pandemic than the Detroit area, which is about a 4-hour drive to the Mackinac Bridge, which separates the state’s peninsulas.
In all, Michigan had reported 4,135 deaths as of Monday evening, third-most of any state.
But Menominee County, which Island Resort and Casino is in, has only six COVID-19 cases reported and no deaths, according to the state’s website.
By and large, the U.P. could be a more likely place for more casino openings than the Lower Peninsula.
For instance, Gogebic County where Northern Waters Casino Resort is located in Watersmeet, has five reported COVID-19 cases and one death.
Is The Island Casino In Escanaba Michigan Open Today
Current status of Upper Peninsula casinos
All 11 of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula casinos are run by Native American tribes.
Here is a list of the U.P. casinos in Michigan and their reopening status:
Is The Island Casino In Escanaba Michigan Open Back-up
- Bay Mills Resort and Casinos (Bay Mills and Kings Club), Brimley: A message sent from the resort’s Facebook account said reopening will be sometime after May 15.
- Kewadin Casinos, five locations in Christmas, Hessel, Manistique, Sault Ste. Marie and St. Ignace: Reopening is currently scheduled for May 16.
- Island Resort and Casino, Harris: Rescheduled Wednesday’s opening until May 16
- Northern Waters Casino Resort, Watersmeet: On March 31, the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians announced the facility would close through April. On April 25, a Facebook post said: “We will not be opening May 1st. We will post as soon as we have a new opening date. Thank you for your patience.” The facility’s golf course opened for the season on Friday but was closed on Monday because of bad weather.
- Ojibwa Casinos, Baraga and Marquette: No update was available. The website says: “Both Ojibwa Casinos will continue to remain closed thru the end of April and possibly beyond following Michigan state and Federal recommended guidelines for social distancing during the Coronavirus pandemic.” A message from the company’s Facebook account said: “We will post any updates when we have more to share.”
Is The Island Casino In Escanaba Michigan Open 2019
Lower Peninsula casinos remain closed
In addition to Detroit’s three casinos being closed, none of the 12 tribal casinos in the Lower Peninsula have provided reopening dates.
The casinos are: FireKeepers Casino Hotel in Battle Creek; Four Winds Casinos, three locations in Dowagiac, Hartford, New Buffalo; Gun Lake Casino in Wayland; Leelanau Sands Casino in Peshawbestown; Little River Casino and Resort in Manistee; Odawa Casinos, two locations in Mackinaw City and Petoskey; Saganing Eagles Landing Casino in Standish; Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mount Pleasant; and Turtle Creek Casino and Hotel in Williamsburg.
A notice on the Odawa website from general manager Ron Olson referred to Whitmer’s order for a shutdown through May 28 and said, “We will follow this order and remain closed until further notice.”
Bear Lake Highlands in Bear Lake, a golf course owned by the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians which owns the Little River casino, opened on Friday.