Nearly every casino in Nevada has been forced to lay off or furlough their employees due to the loss in revenue as a result of the coronavirus.
Las Vegas Sands The Only Vegas Casino to Retain All Employees
Casinos in Las Vegas have seen massive drops in revenue due to the coronavirus and a three-month shutdown. Even though casinos reopened in early June, Nevada’s top tourist attraction has been slow to return to normalcy. While most of the state’s casinos laid off or furloughed employees due to loss of revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Las Vegas Sands is the only major casino in Nevada to keep all employees on the payroll.
According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson sent a memo to all employees saying the hotel and casino chain will continue to keep all employees on the payroll and maintain their benefits through October 31st.
According to the COVID-19 Tracking Project, Nevada has 45,806 cases, with 1,110 hospitalizations. On Wednesday, 870 new cases were reported. 21 new deaths were reported on Wednesday.
NBA Returns to the Hardwood
After a four-month hiatus, the NBA returns to the hardwood Thursday night for the first set of games from the NBA bubble. Two of the best teams in the Western Conference, both of which happen to be from Los Angeles with the Lakers and Clippers and their superstars Kawhi Leonard and LeBron James battle in a primetime match-up. Plus, fans can watch the Utah Jazz tip-off against the New Orleans Pelicans. There are a dozen more teams in action on Friday and a full slate of action over the weekend. Sports Illustrated’s fantasy and gambling analysts have the best bets and DFS strategy for all the NBA’s action. Check it out on SI.com/gambling
Business and Coronavirus Update
There are 17 million cases of the virus worldwide, with over 668,000 deaths. The U.S. has 4.4 million cases with over 151,000 deaths. According to the COVID-19 Tracking Project, there were 66,000 new cases reported yesterday. This is the highest daily new case count since Sunday, which had 61,000 new cases.839,000 new tests were done Wednesday. 1,400 deaths were reported yesterday. California, North Carolina, and Idaho set one-day records for death tolls. California reported 197 COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, Florida reported 216 deaths and North Carolina reported 45 deaths. Herman Cain, the former CEO of Godfather's pizza and former GOP candidate, died from the coronavirus.
We got a look at the U.S. economy in the second quarter and it’s grim. The U.S. economy posted its worst drop on record. It contracted at a 32.9% annual rate from April to June according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits in the week ended July 24 rose to 1.434 million, higher than economists' estimates.
The U.S. Labor Department reported that 1.434 million Americans filed for first-time jobless benefits in the week ended July 24, Analysts polled by FactSet had been expecting 1.4 million first-time jobless benefit applications. Continuing claims came in at 17.018 million, breaking a two-month downtrend.
TheStreet's Katherine Ross contributed to this report.