It’s been more than 50 years since casinos on the Strip closed down for John F. Kennedy’s funeral on Nov. 25, 1963, but this is the first time that all Nevada casinos statewide have been ordered to close, Michael Green, a history professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, told The Associated Press.
The unprecedented situation has officials preparing for any number of scenarios in trying to factor the severity of the economic impact when the stay-at-home order and travel restrictions are finally lifted.
“It is a broad range of potential outcomes, that’s for sure. And right now, and we’ll tell our board this in a couple of weeks, that we’re modeling between 50 and 70 percent of what we anticipated in a normal year next year in terms of room tax revenue,” Hill said, adding: “We’re not going to just flip a switch and things are going to return to normal.”