Small casinos in the US have finally been allowed to participate in the Paycheck Protection program loans (PPP). The small business administration (SBA) released a revised regulatory guideline on Friday that allows small casinos to take part in the PPP program which is the COVID-19 relief effort.
This program is offering up to $10 million in loans to small businesses. At least ¾ of the sum goes towards paying staff.
The SBA’s rules for the loans are required to exclude all business that derives more than one-third of gross annual revenue from legal gambling activities. The policy was amended last week to enable companies eligible of gaming provided up to 50% of yearly revenue but also capped that revenue at $1 million.
This is excluding all business excerpt bars that have a few slot machines. the loans are only for brick and mortar casinos and not online casinos as they are doing great as is.
The SBA consulted with Steve Mnuchin Treasury Secretary who had the previous week announced that the PPP excluded small casinos. It is now believed that the new approach of including them is more consistent with the policy aiming at making PPP loans available to a broad segment of U.S businesses.
Trump’s Involvement in Small Casinos Approval
The president of the United States of America received praises from Bill Miller, the CEO of the American Gaming Association. He praises Trump and the members of congress for correcting the SBA’s policy and for recognizing that commercial and tribal gaming industry employees deserve the same support that is given to other small businesses.
Hope for the small casinos to be included in the policy was given on the 8th of April when Trump was asked at a White House Coronavirus Taskforce briefing. He was asked of small casinos would also qualify for the PPP loans. In his response, the President said that he would look into it.
The Situation Of America’s Casinos
America’s commercial and tribal casinos have been closed down since mid-March 2020. The nearly 1,000 casinos have an estimation of 650k staff who were left with no pay or steady work. Companies have treated these staff differently.
Some companies have been more generous in making sue their Furloughed staff have been taken care of. But it does not apply to all of them.
Analysts expect the recovery of casinos to be slow even when they are given the signal to reopen. With the restriction on gaming operations, it is expected to take at least a year for the US casino sector to get back to a place where they will fully recover.
Conclusion
It is good news for US small casinos as they have been allowed to participate in the PPP loans program for small businesses. This was something the casino industry needed with the losses that they have incurred due to coronavirus pandemic.
FAQs
[accordiongroup id=”368″][accordion group=”368″ title=”What Is The Loan Program For?” active=”true”]This is the federal government’s pandemic relief program. The small business administration issued a paycheck protection program a COVID-19 relief effort. This offers small business loans of up to $10 million.[/accordion][accordion group=”368″ title=”What Was The American Gaming Association Comment on this?” active=””]Through its CEO, the American Gaming Association praised Trump and members of congress for correcting the policy and recognizing that commercial and tribal gaming industry employees deserve the same opportunity as other small businesses.[/accordion][accordion group=”368″ title=”Who Is Bill Miller?” active=””]Bill Miller is the CEO of the American Gaming Association who gave remarks praising the president for allowing casinos to participate in the loan program for small businesses.[/accordion][accordion group=”368″ title=”When Did Casinos Close in The US?” active=””]Casinos in the US closed around Mid-March when the cases of coronavirus kept rising.[/accordion][accordion group=”368″ title=”What Is The Current Coronavirus Situation in the US?” active=””]The USA currently sits in the lead in terms of the cases of this virus. The country has a total of 925,758 cases and 52,217 deaths in total so far.[/accordion][/accordiongroup]