'Mystic Lake' And 'Little Six' Casinos To Reopen May 26

PROIR LAKE, MN — The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community Monday announced plans to reopen its Mystic Lake and Little Six casinos on Tuesday, May 26, at 10 a.m.

The facilities have been closed since March 18 amid the coronavirus pandemic. A phased approach to reopening with enhanced protocols has been established to ensure the health and safety of team members and guests, casino officials said.

Building occupancy limits have been recalculated to accommodate physical distancing and will be enforced at both casinos when they reopen, according to a news release.

The number of guests on the gaming floor will be monitored through door counts and surveillance to maintain physical distancing standards, and admittance will not be allowed if facilities have reached capacity, officials said.

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All guests and team members will be required to wear masks. In addition, the health of team members will be carefully monitored, and noninvasive thermal temperature scanning of guests will be conducted at entrances.

Team members and guests exhibiting signs of illness will be required to leave, according to casino officials.

"Our tribal members, team members and guests depend on us to make decisions with their wellbeing in mind, and we have not taken this responsibility lightly as we carefully deliberated these decisions over the past several weeks," said Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community Chairman Keith Anderson in a statement.

"Our tribe has many enterprises, some of which have reopened already, including The Meadows at Mystic Lake, the Organics Recycling Facility, and the ice rinks at Dakotah! Sport and Fitness. We have learned how to make the proper modifications to ensure safety and will use what we have learned when reopening Mystic Lake and Little Six."

The casinos say their reopening plan was developed following standards provided by the SMSC’s tribal public health department, CDC, Minnesota Department of Health and National Indian Gaming Commission:

• The initial reopening will be limited to slot machines and table games areas
• Chairs have been removed from every other slot machine to allow appropriate spacing
• Fifty percent of the chairs have also been removed from all table games and bars, with blackjack tables limited to a maximum of three guests per table
• Guest and team member interaction points have been reduced and plexiglass barriers have been installed at point-of-sales locations where possible
• All public areas, slot machines and tables will be cleaned and sanitized numerous times per day
• Guests can also request that slot machines be cleaned at any time by using a service button, and team members will clean slot machines and tables when they see a guest leaving them
• Higher touch areas such as restrooms, entry doors and ATMs will be sanitized multiple times per shift and transactional surfaces will be sanitized between uses
• Dining options will be limited to pre-packaged items, and the buffet and other sit-down restaurants will remain closed
• No large-scale gatherings will be held initially, and concerts and entertainment events have been postponed to later dates
• The hotel will reopen in phases as the demand for rooms returns and many hotel amenities like the spa and pool will remain closed along with Mystic Lake Center
• The health of team members will be monitored
• Team members will undergo a health screening prior to starting each shift. Team members will be required to stay home if sick. Symptomatic team members or those with a symptomatic family member at home cannot return to work until the criteria to discontinue home isolation are met

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