• Guests are required to have their temperature checked before entering the casino. In accordance with the Louisiana statewide mask mandate, and in order to help reduce the spread of COVID – 19, L'Auberge Casino Resort Lake Charles will be requiring all persons in public areas to wear a mask covering the face and nose.
• – Ameristar Casino in St. Charles could be opening its doors as early as May 16. Charles county executive was all for getting the county re-open but he wants to hold off on.

Ameristar Casino Resort Spa St. Charles offers an exceptional gaming and entertainment experience in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Harrah's Casino and Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri has a 120,000 square foot casino gambling floor with 3,000 slot machines, 95 table games, poker and hotel. Harrahs Casino in St. Louis offers all the popular table games, outstanding dining, a luxury hotel and top name entertainment. This is a first class facility designed to please everyone.

Ameristar Casino Resort Spa St. Charles is a riverboat casino located on the Missouri River in St. Charles, Missouri, a northwestern suburb of St. Louis. It is one of several casinos in the greater St. Louis market. It is currently owned by Boyd Gaming. Ameristar attracts over 5.5 million visitors a year^[1][2] and is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Missouri

History[edit]

St Charles Casino Opening

The casino opened on May 27, 1994, then owned by Station Casinos under the name Station Casino St. Charles. It was one of the first two riverboat casinos in the state, and originally offered 24,500 square feet of gaming space with 52 blackjack and craps tables and 813 video poker machines. Due to regulations of that time, admission fees were charged, and gambling sessions were restricted to two-hour cruises with a $500 maximum loss per session.^[3] In late 1994, the casino was moved to a new boat, the Station Casino Belle. Cruising was required until 1996, when a change in regulations allowed riverboat casinos in Missouri to be permanently moored. For some time, two casinos were actually operating, one on the boat and another on a barge, until 1999, when the entire casino was consolidated to a barge, partially due to a regulation change which eliminated boarding restrictions.^[4] In October 2000, Station Casinos sold its Missouri properties, also including Station Casino Kansas City in the deal to Ameristar Casinos. In 2008, a major expansion of the property included a hotel, pool, and spa.^[5] In 2013, Ameristar Casinos was acquired by the now defunct Pinnacle Entertainment. Pinnacle Entertainment was acquired by Penn National Gaming in 2018, but it chose to sell 4 of Pinnacle's properties, Ameristar Casino Kansas City, Belterra Casino Resort & Spa, Belterra Park and Ameristar St. Charles to Boyd Gaming to ensure regulatory approval. Many experts see a trend in casino consolidation, especially in markets such as Missouri, as a means of cutting costs.^[6]

Property information[edit]

Ameristar St. Charles has over 130,000 square feet of gaming space, 400 hotel rooms, a pool, 7 restaurants, 12 bars, an entertainment venue, a spa, and 20,000 square feet of event space. Unlike Illinois casinos, it is open 24 hours a day except for Wednesdays, when the casino closes from 5am to 6am. The casino currently includes over 2,000 slot machines as well as table games and a poker room. Non-gaming amenities also include a Topgolf Swing Suite and an arcade.

References[edit]

1. ^'Ameristar Casino reopens today with increased sanitation efforts'. KMOV.com. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
2. ^'Tourism- St Charles'(PDF). Placewise Digital.
3. ^https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-07-17-9407170088-story.html
4. ^https://lasvegassun.com/news/1999/nov/04/station-casino-st-charles-closes-riverboat-to-expa/
5. ^https://www.bestuscasinos.org/review/ameristar-st-charles/
6. ^https://www.stltoday.com/business/local/shuffling-the-deck-billion-deal-will-change-ownership-of-several/article_493e8fdd-3fca-5411-9da1-bf2fbd3ba996.html

See also[edit]

External links[edit]

For some Missourians, this week seemed like a fine time to place a few bets.

The Missouri Gaming Commission is allowing all 13 casinos in the state to reopen this week, after more than two months of being closed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Ameristar Casino in St. Charles and Lumière Place in St. Louis are the only casinos reopening in the region Monday. Casinos in St. Louis County, including Hollywood Casino in Maryland Heights and River City Casino in Lemay, must remain closed due to county restrictions spurred by the pandemic. Casinos in Illinois are also not allowed to reopen yet.

The entrance to the Ameristar on Monday afternoon featured a large traffic sign that read “Casino Open” in capital orange letters, and cars steadily streamed into the parking lot.

Jessie Hill, a St. Charles resident, said news of the Ameristar reopening flooded his Facebook feed, so he decided to come test his luck in a game of Texas Hold ’em with a friend.

“We live right down the road and like there really hasn’t been much to do since everything’s been shut down, so it gives us an opportunity to get out of the house and do something,” Hill said.

But gambling during a pandemic is going to look different, said David Strow, vice president of corporate communications for Boyd Gaming. Boyd Gaming owns and operates the Ameristar and 28 other casinos nationwide.

Chips, dice, playing cards and slot machines all are touched hundreds of times a day at casinos. Strow said his casinos are putting numerous safety protocols in place to reduce the risk of spreading the virus on those high-touch items.

Dealers place cards face up, so players don’t have to touch them. Chips and dice are regularly sanitized, but people are encouraged to frequently wash their hands after touching them. Also, every other slot machine is turned off and Blackjack tables are limited to three players a piece to maintain social distancing. Chairs on the gaming floor have been removed and the building is restricted to half capacity.

Every dealer and casino employee is required to wear a mask and if a guest does not have a mask, they’re offered one, but not required to wear it.

Most restaurants in the Ameristar have reopened, although the night club will remain closed for now. The hotel is also operating at half capacity and is not offering valet service currently.

Strow said the casino is ready to open, despite furloughing a majority of employees in April and months of significant revenue loss.

For the last two months, Strow said the company had no revenue coming in, as all Boyd Gaming casinos were closed nationwide. The company wrote in a letter to the state in May that depending on revenue after reopening, potentially 25% to 60% of employees could be laid off.

“The range in that letter really reflects that uncertainty,” Strow said. “It’s an honest statement of we don’t know what that’s going to look like two months from now, we don’t know what our business levels are going to look like, what our staffing levels are going to look like.”

Casinos taxes are the state’s fifth largest source of revenue, according to the state gaming association.

Closures compounded by slow business from hesitant customers could hurt state income, but Strow said he is hopeful people will be back to relieve stress from being under stay-at-home orders.

When Will St Charles Casino Open

“People do need that escape; they still need entertainment,” Strow said. “And so we can continue to offer them that.”

St Charles Casino Open

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