Illinois to close all casinos for two weeks
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The Casino Queen in East St. Louis, the Argosy Casino in Alton and the eight other casinos in the state must close for two weeks beginning Monday, the Illinois Gaming Board announced Friday.
The decision follows a cascade of announcements that everything from schools to major sporting events must shut down in an effort to prevent the spread of a new coronavirus.
Illinois casinos produced $377 million in revenue for the state and $78.1 million for local governments last year, according to the gaming board. The 10 casinos had overall revenue of $1.35 billion in revenue in 2019, which was down slightly from 2018.
“The public health of patrons, casino employees, (Illinois Gaming Board) staff, and others is of paramount importance,” the gaming board said in news release. “The board is continuously monitoring developments and will update licensees and the public as frequently as possible.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday ordered all public and private schools to close from Tuesday until March 30.
In Illinois, there have been 46 confirmed cases of COVID-19, none of them in the metro-east.
Events around the metro-east have been canceled because of COVID-19 concerns.
This story was originally published March 13, 2020 at 8:57 PM.
