In an sudden improvement, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon introduced the transfer as she confirmed Scotland was shifting to Level 0 Covid restrictions from July 19.
Under the brand new regime, all of Scotland’s hospitality venues – together with casinos – should shut their doorways at midnight.
The transfer is especially devastating for casinos, which do greater than half their commerce after 10pm.
It additionally offers extra uncertainty for the 700 women and men employed by Scotland’s casinos, in addition to additional denting the £30m a 12 months they pay in tax to the Treasury.
The determination comes regardless of an impartial report earlier this 12 months by Dr Lisa Ackerley, a chartered environmental well being practitioner, which stated casinos had been “as safe, if not safer” than different hospitality venues due to the anti-Covid measures they’ve launched.
Michael Dugher, chief government of the Betting and Gaming Council, stated: “Scottish on line casino operators have as soon as once more had the rug pulled from beneath their toes by this weird determination.
“The on line casino trade has been pressured to face up to a sequence of inexplicable choices by politicians throughout the previous 12 months and is now coming to phrases with yet one more setback. The brutal fact is {that a} curfew is disastrous for casinos and we had been beneath the impression {that a} transfer to stage 0 would see the curfew lastly eliminated subsequent week, however that’s now not the case.
“The goalposts have modified again and again, which is grossly unfair on the colleagues and operators who’ve labored so laborious to make casinos Covid-safe.
“Given that casinos do most of their enterprise after 10pm, forcing them to shut at midnight is economically self-harming and reveals an entire misunderstanding of the on line casino trade.
“I would urge Nicola Sturgeon to re-think this decision as soon as possible, and remove the uncertainty she has placed over the hundreds of hardworking staff employed by Scottish casinos.”
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