Many businesses across Pennsylvania are trying to come up with new operating models for when the state begins its gradual reopening on May 8.

Those which rely on significant numbers of people will be most affected as employees and patrons practice safe distancing and other protections from the COVID-19 pandemic.

A lot has been written about restaurants, which will be particularly hard hit since their capacity seating will be greatly affected to ensure safe distancing. Some restaurant leaders predict that more than 30% of existing restaurants either won’t reopen at all or, if they do, they will fail.

These industry leaders say that to have profitability, a restaurant must average about 80% capacity to be sustainable. Maintaining at least 6 feet between dining patrons will drastically cut the number of eating spaces in most establishments.

Among the various businesses that are facing unprecedented challenges, none is more valuable to the state and some of our local governments than casinos, which are viewed as revenue-raising cash cows.

In our area, we have two of Pennsylvania’s dozen casinos at Wind Creek in Bethlehem and Mount Airy in Paradise Township near Mount Pocono in Monroe County. Another popular casino destination for Times News readers is Mohegan Sun in Plains Township, Luzerne County.

The dozen statewide casinos employ more than 16,000, and in addition to significant property tax payments paid by the casinos and the earned income tax paid by employees, Carbon received $710,000 earlier this year in casino host fees for eight projects.

Aside from the Mount Airy Golf Course, which was allowed to reopen on May 2, none of the three casinos is expected to open anytime soon, because Northampton, Monroe and Luzerne counties are in high COVID-19 cases zones. None of these three counties is among the first 24 whose designations may go red to yellow on Friday.

“The health and safety of our team members and guests are our top concerns,” said Frank Leone, Mount Airy’s chief operations officer and general manager.

He said while there have been no reported cases of COVID-19 at the resort and casino, staff members are prepared to take whatever steps are necessary to protect the public once the facility gets the green light to reopen. In the meantime, Leone added, essential staff remains on-site to assist with securing, cleaning, sanitizing and maintaining the facility.

Mount Airy has more than 1,800 slot machines and more than 70 table games, along with a variety of dining options, night life venues and the 18-hole golf course. Its hotel has 188 rooms.

At Wind Creek, CEO Jay Dorris said that changes will reflect those that will be in place at restaurants, sporting events, office buildings and amusement parks. He said Wind Creek will be limiting the number of guests who will be allowed into the casino and its hotel, in addition to intensifying the amount of cleaning and sanitizing and increasing the use of personal protection equipment for employees.

Dorris said that although he and his management team have been hard at work devising a phased reopening game plan, he acknowledges that changes could occur, so everyone must be flexible. Wind Creek will plan a “soft reopening,” which will be by invitation only, to have a dry run for some of the policies that will be put into place.

Anticipating that there will be pent-up demand, especially from those who will want to shed the cabin fever that will have developed after months of stay-at-home directives, Dorris said Wind Creek is in the process of developing a reservation system for visitors. Guests will be allowed to reserve a day and time so as to keep the number of people on the casino floor and other venues at a safe number.

“Upon reopening, you’ll notice reduced capacity in our restaurants to ensure proper distance; we will also be making changes to self-service areas of food service, limiting the number of guests in retail outlets, limiting some services in our spas and fitness facilities and making some changes in our hotel and valet areas,” he added.

Wind Creek was formerly owned by the Sands, which sold the property for $1.3 billion in 2018. The casino features about 3,000 slot machines and 200 table games. Prior to its closing nearly 50 days ago, Wind Creek was drawing about 9 million visits annually. Industry estimates peg the loss to the U.S. economy from the nearly 1,000 commercial and tribal casinos at $43.5 billion by mid-May. At Wind Creek, for example, it reported gambling revenue of just $14.7 million in March, down from $51 million in 2019.

Although some casinos have furloughed workers, Wind Creek will continue to pay its 2,400 employees until May 31. It also said it wants to be a good neighbor and paid its $2.5 million quarterly host fee to Allentown and Bethlehem recently and pledged to make the other quarterly payments for the balance of the year.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com