Hippodrome Casino In London Says Players Don’t Need COVID Passport
The Hippodrome Casino in London has made a controversial decision. With casinos in England preparing to open on May 17, UK players are very keen to get back to playing their favorite casino games in a live setting.
Members of Parliament (MP) have made the issue of COVID-19 vaccine passports a problem. The main issue is that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has hinted that proof of vaccination might be necessary to move around after the lifting of restrictions. However, the Hippodrome Casino in London has indicated that it will not be asking players to produce a vaccine passport.
Open For All
The Hippodrome’s decision is primarily to comply with the new Open For All charter. This charter is supposed to be open to all businesses that oppose any legal requirements that require proof of vaccinations for entry. This group of business owners says that they have no political motivation behind their rejection of the vaccination passport idea.
Their main reason is that some people will not have the COVID vaccine yet but don’t feel that they should be excluded from public places. Additionally, they think that checking for the vaccine passport would cause ethical and logistical problems.
The Hippodrome’s press officer Ian Haworth is one of the signatories of this charter and that means that the casino won’t be asking guests for any proof of vaccination. While vaccine passports have not been made a requirement yet, there have been rumblings from the Prime Minister that it would happen. This will probably be rolled out fully when everyone in England and the UK has been given a chance at the vaccine.
However, these contradict months of denial from the UK government that this would happen. PM Johnson said last year that he had ruled out the need for vaccine passports in the country. But it seems that the PM has flip-flopped on this position.
Difficult For Casinos To Check Vaccine Passport
Clarity is needed from the UK government because the country is starting to open up. On April 12, venues with outdoor facilities reopen after four months of being shut down. As of now, May 17 is the reopening date for indoor hospitality venues. They will need to follow various restrictions like social distancing and capacity limits. Adding vaccine passport checking to all those duties can be a bit difficult for a lot of establishments, especially UK casinos.
It will take a few months before the UK is able to roll out the COVID-19 vaccine throughout the country. Hence, it will be difficult to make it mandatory for UK casinos to accept only vaccinated players from May 17.