Casinos and theaters prepping for restriction relief

WESTMORELAND COUNTY — It’s not just restaurants and bars feeling some relief after Gov. Tom Wolf announced he’s lifting some restrictions — casinos and theaters are also prepping for what’s to come.

Live! Casino is applauding the governor’s decision to ease capacity restrictions and lift some mitigation efforts come April 4. The casino can now increase capacity from 50% to soon, 75%.

“So we can increase now to about 1,500 people in the casino to the first floor and on the second floor, and our restaurants get to pick up another 20-30 seats. So it’s all helpful,” Sean Sullivan General Manager of Live! Casino, said. “There’s about 3 to 4 hours every night where we get really busy and we click and count everybody coming in, and we know we can’t get over 1,000 people currently.”

Sullivan says the new governance may lead to hiring additional employees. But the biggest break might be the drink service.

“We can now serve alcoholic beverages to the casino floor, past 11 o’clock so we can now go to 2 a.m. That’s big,” he said.

The ruling also brings some hope, and some confusion for local theaters.

“We shuttered last March and we’ve been in that mode ever since,” John Gdula, President of Lamp Board Corp., said. “Now we could actually see ourselves if we’re at 75% capacity we could potentially could be closer to 300 but if we qualify instead as an indoor event then we can only be at 25% capacity.”

The Lamp Theatre in Irwin is still looking for clarification on where it fits in, but a year ago, it was on track for the best month yet, until COVID hit. And while it’ll take some time to get shows booked and marketing rolling, the Lamp is hoping summer brings the stage back to life.

“I think there’s pent up demand for entertainment, however the comfort level has to be there for not only patrons but entertainers, volunteers, employees, so I feel like we’re getting there,” he said.

Westmoreland and Monroeville malls say come April 4 seating at the food court will also increase to 50% capacity.

Gov. Wolf lifting some business restrictions

Cox Media Group