They will no longer be required to close at 11 p.m.
N
ew York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday that the state will lift its pandemic-related curfew for casinos, among other businesses, as of April 5.
Starting on that date, casinos, pool halls, movie theaters, bowling alleys, gyms and fitness centers will no longer be required to close at 11 p.m, Cuomo said during a conference call with reporters. The 11 p.m. curfew will remain in place for bars and restaurants.
The state’s four upstate casinos, which were closed much of the year, ended up down 58% in gross gaming revenue in 2020.
New York has one of the highest rates of new cases per person of any state, and cases and deaths aren’t declining as quickly as in the nation as a whole. But the governor said that as a growing number of New Yorkers get vaccinated, “we are reaching the light at the end of the tunnel,” the Associated Press reports. Cuomo on Wednesday became one of the roughly 4.7 million New Yorkers who have gotten at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine.