Seven Mile Casino opened its doors again, but this time it brought players outside under the big top to accommodate safety measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Settled on the Chula Vista bayfront, Seven Mile celebrated its open-air opening on Aug. 25, restoring more than 250 employees and bringing the local card gaming facility back to life.
Head of marketing Brad Samuel said that after three weeks of non-stop work, the opening was nothing short of incredible.
“After being opened and closed then opened over the last five months was incredibly gratifying,” said Samuel. “To see our customers’ smiling faces come back and, just as important candidly, seeing our employees’ faces when we got to say, ‘Hey, we’re getting the team back together. We are opening and we are moving it outside.’ There is very little that matches that goodness when you get to go to work.”
Samuel said the feedback from customers was great on opening day.
“They can’t believe how good it looks,” he said. “We literally took the inside, some of the decorations, the imaging and the feel of what happens inside of the casino and somehow put it into a 5,500-square-foot tent. The tent that we are doing, it is not just a tent, this is one of the companies that does tents for the Oscars parties.”
Seven Mile spared no expense or efforts to make the outdoor venue a welcoming and safe place for both customers and employees, said Samuel.
“That is the single most important thing to us. Safety first and doing everything in a way that then allows you to have fun. It is really paying attention to the details,” he said.
Samuel said customers can expect all of the safety protocols hoped for and maybe a few extras. Cameras are a normality in casino settings to watch for theft or cheating, but Samuel said the way the system is set up, it allows Seven Mile to literally track any player throughout their journey through the tent.
“Just say on the far outreach that someone comes to Seven Mile and a few days later they don’t feel so good, maybe they feel that they were exposed or something,” said Samuel. “They got sick. We have the ability to contact and know every single person that person came in contact with at Seven Mile.”
Masis Kevorkian, one of Seven Mile Casino’s managing partners, said the reopening was like bringing the family back together.
“We’re excited to return to some degree or normalcy and provide the community with a safe and fun escape from everything that they have been going through,” he stated in a press release. “We also look forward to the day where we will be able to go back indoors safely.”
Samuel said they are not just telling customers to come in then saying,
“Good luck to y’all.” Players can expect several safety measures before entering the tent, such as handwashing stations, temperature checks and masks.
“Then when you come in, when you sit down, every single player position has a divider, everyone is wearing masks, hand sanitizer is everywhere and you are expected to keep that mask on,” said Samuel. “We are not playing. We are serious about this. We take our customers’ and our employees’ health seriously. And there is a win at the end in business by taking health precautions at the same time. They are not mutually exclusive from each other.”
