Casino designers , furniture suppliers and the FF & E purchasers that put gaming interiors together face new challenges in the Covid-19 era
By Frank Legato
Tesla by Gary Platt
Despite the fact that the casino industry came to a grinding halt for nearly three months due to the Covid-19 crisis , many casino-hotel design , construction and expansion projects soldiered on . Consequently , the vendors that supply those projects have had to adjust their game plans to deal with the new normal forced by the pandemic .
The pandemic has , in particular , affected the nuts and bolts of casino design , which is the FF & E plan — furniture , fixtures and equipment .
The fundamentals , of course , remain the same . “ The main criterion for FF & E is really just going to be function ,” says Carl Long , senior vice president of Purchasing Management International ( PMI ), one of the companies charged with gathering and managing FF & E for a number of large projects , including the new Circa in Downtown Las Vegas . “ The furnishings in a casino environment are used and abused , and heavily used . So , you need to go with reputable manufacturers . You need to be able to stand up to the rigors of a casino environment .”
That applies to each individual part of the FF & E plan , down to the chairs in which the players will sit . “ First and foremost is comfort ,” says Joe Esposito , CEO of furniture supplier Gary Platt Manufacturing . “ At Gary Platt , we have spent years researching player habits , and we have found that when players are comfortable , they stay and enjoy the game longer . That ’ s why we developed our proprietary blend of foam that operators and players worldwide consider to be the most comfortable in , sit test after sit test ... Our design team is filled with experts who also employ the latest developments in ergonomics in every chair model they create .”
‘ Theater of Clean ’
But in what is increasingly being identified as the Covid-19 era , ergonomic considerations are necessarily blended with the need for furniture to be cleaned and sanitized regularly .
“ Pre-Covid , everybody was just trying to get more excitement ,” says Long . “ We ’ re working on the Circa in Downtown Las Vegas . It was the first new-construction hotel or casino in Downtown Las Vegas , and that ’ s a big deal , given the focus , but that was pre-Covid ; that was the new thing . It was exciting , and people want to be part of what ’ s new .
“ And now , post-Covid , people want to be part of what ’ s clean . And so , we ’ ve started talking a lot around here about the ‘ theater of clean .’ How do you communicate about your gaming facility , your slot chairs , your gaming chairs , your gaming tables — how are you clean ? And how are you protect-
40 CASINO STYLE 2020