In Las Vegas and the newly-enlarged Caesars Entertainment Incorporated has reportedly announced that it intends to re-open its shuttered Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino property by the end of this year.

According to a Thursday report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper, the Reno-headquartered operator was forced to temporarily close the 2,522-room venue in mid-March as part of a program from Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak to help stop the spread of coronavirus. However, such facilities were purportedly allowed to begin re-opening from the end of August so long as they agreed to abide by a raft of new limited capacity and social distancing regulations designed to quell the rate of infection.

Productive period:

Rather than partially re-opening its Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, the newspaper reported that Caesars Entertainment Incorporated instead decided to spend the last few months finalizing its $17.3 billion merger with smaller rival Eldorado Resorts Incorporated, offloading a number of potentially contentious properties and agreeing a $3.7 billion deal to purchase British sportsbetting giant William Hill. With these issues now complete, the firm’s Chief Executive Officer, Tom Reeg, purportedly stated that his company will now turn its attention towards fully reviving operations within the renowned 51-story venue.

Operator optimism:

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that the revelation from Reeg came as part of an update on the casino firm’s third-quarter financial results to designate the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino as the last of its nine venues in the Nevada city to be re-opening following the earlier lifting of the state-mandated closure order. The executive purportedly moreover expressed confidence regarding the coming prospects of this revival especially if a rumored vaccine against coronavirus becomes widely available.

Reportedly read a statement from Reeg…

“What I will tell you today is when we get into a post-coronavirus world the pent-up demand you’re going to see for gaming in general and Las Vegas in particular is going to be beyond your wildest dreams. The flow-through that you’re going to see in the sector is unlike anything that has happened.”

Definitive deficit:

Regarding its third-quarter financial results and Reeg reportedly pronounced that Caesars Entertainment Incorporated more than doubled its group-wide revenues to $1.377 billion but eluded profitability via a net loss of $926 million. The executive purportedly declared that the operator is furthermore looking forward to re-opening its 550,000 sq ft Caesars Forum facility in Las Vegas after being forced to temporarily shutter the $375 million non-gaming development only a few days after its initial March premiere.

Reeg’s statement reportedly read…

“If you look at the Caesars Forum convention center, which was open for about a day-and-a-half before everything shut down from coronavirus, it has 172 events, 1.6 million room nights contracted worth over $600 million in rooms and banquet revenue and 78% of that business is new to Las Vegas.”