The LINQ in Las Vegas Opens Hotel to Weekend Guests, As Nevada COVID-19 Rates Drop

Posted on: September 9, 2020, 11:29h. 

Last updated on: September 9, 2020, 02:38h.

Larry Henry Read More

Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Gaming Business, Legislation, Politics, Regulation.

The LINQ Hotel and Casino is the latest resort on the Las Vegas Strip to open its doors to hotel guests.

Starting this week, the LINQ is accepting weekend-only reservations from Thursdays through Sundays for an indefinite period. Guests wanting to stay beyond Sunday will be placed in a different Caesars Entertainment property. Room rates for the opening day on Thursday were starting at $32.

The LINQ Promenade and 550-foot-tall High Roller observation wheel also are open.

Two other Caesars Entertainment resorts on the Strip, the Cromwell, and Planet Hollywood remain closed, with no targeted opening date, according to the American Gaming Association (AGA) website.

Only a few other casinos in Las Vegas remain closed, though some are set to open soon. The Tropicana hotel-casino, for instance, is scheduled to open Sept. 17, according to the AGA website.

Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) directed casinos and many other businesses statewide to close in mid-March as coronavirus infections were spiking. Casinos were allowed to reopen June 4.

COVID-19 Rates Decrease

The LINQ’s announcement comes as the state on Sept. 8 released figures showing a one-day total of 137 new COVID-19 infections. This is the lowest one-day increase in nearly three months, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. No new deaths were reported in that one-day figure.

New statewide COVID-19 cases were averaging over 391 a day one week earlier. The one-day total this week is the lowest since 106 cases were added on June 14. Clark County, where Las Vegas is located, reported its lowest one-day total of new COVID-19 cases since May 31, the newspaper reported.

With a population of more than 2.3 million, Clark County has reported 61,543 infections and 1,206 deaths, according to the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services.

Overall, daily COVID-19 cases in Nevada have decreased 35 percent from two weeks earlier, according to a New York Times coronavirus database. Statewide, 1,395 people have died of COVID-19 complications, according to the Times.

ESPN Link-Up

In addition to reopening its hotel rooms, the LINQ became the host site the week for ESPN’s Daily Wager show.

The one-hour sports analysis program began airing from the network’s LINQ studio on Sept. 9, with former Las Vegas television sports reporter and anchor Doug Kezirian as host. It had been airing from ESPN’s headquarters in Connecticut but was put on hold in March because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The show is being broadcast daily from ESPN’s 6,000-foot studio inside the LINQ. The network opened the studio Aug. 24 to take advantage of Las Vegas’ prominence in the sports world and the LINQ’s central location on the Strip.

Daily Wager airs on ESPN2 at 6 p.m. ET.