Puerto Rico’s casino workers gathered in bid to express their disagreement with the continued closing of premises

Hundreds of casino employees gathered at DTRH’s headquarters to claim their unemployment compensation

Puerto Rico’s casinos, which have now been closed for the past five months in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, were able to operate in July for two weeks, with security and sanitary measures and at just 75% of the casino’s capacity. The governor Wanda Vázquez Garced has ordered the  closing  of the installations shortly after they were permitted to operate once again.

In recent press coverage of the gathering, a multitude of workers expressed their  disagreement with the measures.

Marisel Meléndez of Casino del Sol, in the Courtyard Isla Verde Beach Resort, in Carolina, said “I am outraged. When you see that there are businesses that operate slot machines, paying illegally and without following any protocol, it is a slap in the face for us.

We are clear that the health and safety of employees and customers is paramount. We ask that we be allowed to operate again, because there has not been a single case (of an outbreak) that has ever left the casino. We understand that this can happen. The cases that did occur were handled with strict procedures and a tracking that even the Health Department congratulated us for the way it was handled’.

Arnaldo López Gardia, of San Juan Marriott Stellaris Resort and Casino, in Condado stated ‘We want casinos to reopen, because there’s a protocol in place. After the lockdown, measures were taken in the gaming area and, as casinos, we complied. We prepared ourselves and invested a lot of money in equipment, signs, masks, separation of spaces, machines were turned off to establish social distance between clients and we have done our part. This can’t go on, we are parents. We have to return back to work.’

Valeria Santos Márquez, from the the Courtyard Isla Verde Beach Resort’s Casino del Sol also expressed her disagreement and said ‘We have visited the unemployment offices and we have tried to communicate, they don’t give us answers, we have co-workers who have left everything in the mailbox, but nothing has happened. Our demand is simple: that they pay us our right to unemployment and that they open casinos for us as we are ready to work.’

About SiGMA Europe – Malta

SiGMA Group has announced the postponement of its Europe summit, which was planned to be held in Malta on 17-19 November 2020. The show will now open its doors early next year in February, running from the 16-18th, making it the first event to headline the 2021 gaming calendar.