Shock and Awe
The House
Always Wins
The fall and rise of gaming throughout the Covid-19 pandemic
By Jess Marquez
Every once in a great while , perhaps just once per generation , a flashbulb moment occurs , one that captures our collective attention and blows the dust off of the age-old phrase , “ Where were you when ... ?”
In the past , most of these examples were in fact singular moments in time — deaths of high-profile figures , natural disasters and the beginnings and ends of various wars have always been the most common . But the spring of 2020 was different . The onset and evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic wasn ’ t a singular moment ; it was a gradual buildup , followed by a tidal wave of such moments . January ’ s uncertainties mingled with February ’ s fears , which eventually led to March ’ s reckoning . It only took a matter of days before every facet of day-to-day life became deeply affected .
The gaming industry , of course , was no different . The alarms that first sounded from Macau were quickly heard round the globe , and businesses across all sectors braced for an inevitable impact by sending employees home with laptops and hastily devised two-week plans . And yet the magnitude of the situation didn ’ t fully resonate until the unthinkable finally happened : casinos everywhere closed their doors , like the capstone atop a pyramidal trap .
A lot has changed in the three years since that fateful spring , and while some of the temporary measures have faded away , gaming companies everywhere still bear some of the permanent effects , both good and bad , that resulted from the worst public health disaster since before World War II .
Shock and Awe
On October 30 , 2019 , Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Sacramento President Mark Birtha stood before a podium at the property ’ s grand opening ceremony , in a moment that represented the culmination of years of hard work and planning . He had no way of knowing what was to come mere months later .
“ I remember speaking , doing our grand opening speech and saying , ‘ we will never close these doors ,’” he says . “‘ We ’ ll be open 24 / 7 . We ’ re here to welcome everybody .’ And five months later we were closed .”
Of course , all businesses felt the reverberations of the Covid shockwaves almost immediately , but the closure of brick-and-mortar casinos in mid-
March put real pressure on the industry as a whole . With no casinos , there were no games to be played or sold , no software or hardware to be installed and no consulting to be done . The only thing to do at that time was to sit and wait , and hope for the best .
“ The reality is , this was probably one of the most significant crises as an industry we ’ d ever gone through ,” says Birtha . “ Literally closing all the casinos around the world is just such an unbelievable thing when you look back now . I mean , look , there were some good memories and there were some memories I definitely want to forget . I think the most relevant ones though , in the beginning , obviously , there was just this fear of the unknown .”
The challenge of staying calm and keeping things together was hard enough for established venues , but for Hard Rock Sacramento , which was less than six months old at the time , it seemed that the dream was falling apart before it could be fully realized .
Despite this , Birtha and company worked diligently to become the first Hard Rock property to reopen under the company ’ s Safe and Sound sanitation plan , which , as he notes , was “ a robust , hundred-page strategy initiative to ensure we were meeting all the different health codes around the world .” Given that the Hard Rock brand extends to over 60 countries , this was no small plan , and no easy task .
When it came time to finally reopen after 10 agonizing weeks , however , there were still fears that players would be reluctant to come back , but those were quickly assuaged .
“ What I remember most , which was very endearing and heartwarming , is that guests were just happy to have a place to go where they could find enjoyment ,” Birtha says . “ Every day it was pandemic , pandemic , people dying , situation ’ s getting worse , better , whatever … But they were just grateful to have a place to go again where they could be with their family per se , outside of sheltering in place . We all proactively worked together to overcome the challenges .”
Meanwhile , as operators and state officials everywhere worked diligently to get doors back open , suppliers and manufacturers continued to wait , paralyzed by canceled orders and poor workflows .
For Mike Trask , vice president of product marketing and global communication for Ainsworth Game Technology , the beginning of the pan-
32 Global Gaming Business APRIL 2023