Live! Casino Hotel Maryland Becomes COVID-19 Vaccination Site

Posted on: January 20, 2021, 11:22h. 

Last updated on: July 7, 2021, 12:56h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Live! Casino Hotel Maryland in Anne Arundel County has begun vaccinating eligible residents in the resort’s events center.

Live! Casino Maryland vaccine COVID-19
Live! Casino Hotel Maryland offers slot machines, table games, and numerous restaurants. But as of today, it also offers COVID-19 vaccines to people who are eligible and have an appointment. (Image: Capital Gazette)

The Hanover casino property offered up its 75,000-square-foot convention space to the Anne Arundel County Department of Health, which is administering the two-dose vaccine. The clinic is capable of dispensing 100 doses per hour.

Reservations are required, and only those eligible on the state’s five-stage vaccine distribution time line can make appointments. Maryland is currently in stage 1B.

Marylanders Eligible for the Vaccine

  • Health care workers
  • Nursing home residents and staff
  • First responders
  • Public safety officials
  • Corrections officers
  • Those in assisted living
  • Adults aged 75 and older
  • Education and government personnel

The vaccination clinic at Live! is open Monday through Friday, 8 am to 4 pm ET. The Cordish Companies, which owns and operates the casino, says the facility will be in operation “for several months.”

Casinos Step-Up

Live! Casino Maryland isn’t the first commercial gaming property to help with the vaccination process. Last week, Encore at Wynn Las Vegas became a state-operated COVID-19 vaccination facility.

Encore volunteered its convention space to public health officials. The Strip casino’s meeting facility is conveniently located next to the property’s large parking garage, making it easier for Nevadans — especially elderly persons — to visit the vaccination clinic. People arriving for a vaccine are directed to park on the first floor.

“We offered Encore as a vaccination location to help facilitate distribution as quickly and efficiently as possible throughout the Las Vegas Valley,” explained Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox. The University Medical Center of Southern Nevada is dispensing the vaccines at Encore.

In West Virginia, Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races is providing free on-site COVID-19 testing. The self-administered oral swab tests are available from 10 am to 6 pm. Reservations are required, but walk-ins are accepted during the last 30 minutes of each day.

Casino Workers in Rear

As Casino.org reported this week, casino workers in Nevada are fourth on the “frontline/essential” priority list to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. Gaming industry employees in other states will also need to wait until other more high-risk people receive their vaccines.

States — not the federal government — are dictating who receives the vaccines first.

In New Jersey, the country’s second-richest gaming state behind Nevada, Atlantic City casino workers who are not in a priority group because of their own health factors must wait until the vaccine opens up to the general public.

New Jersey has lagged neighboring states in getting the vaccine to people. Gov. Phil Murphy (D) this week blamed national pharmacy chains CVS and Walgreens, as well as the Trump administration.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, New Jersey has administered 658,800 doses of the vaccine. The national public health institute says four percent of Garden State residents have received at least one dose.

By comparison, New York has administered more than 1.8 million doses, or 4.5 percent of the population receiving their first shot.

However, Nevada is doing even worse than New Jersey. Just 2.8 percent of Nevadans have received a dose. Nevada has administered 211,750 doses.