New Jersey online gambling operators set yet another record in July by generating $87.5 million worth of revenue, according to figures released by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.

New Jersey online poker sites saw a 36 percent increase from June as operators raked $4.8 million throughout the month.

The July numbers topped May’s previous monthly revenue record when online casinos won $85.9 million from gamblers in the Garden State.

The key difference between the two months was that New Jersey’s nine brick-and-mortar casinos in Atlantic City were allowed to reopen July 2 following a more than three-month shutdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. During May, if New Jersey gamblers wanted action, online was their only option.

The other bright spot for the gambling market in the numbers was in the sports betting handle. New Jersey sportsbooks accepted $315.1 million in wagers last month, representing a 25.4 percent increase from July 2019.

Some of this may be a function of pent-up demand as three of the four major American professional sports leagues resumed play in July. Before the start of a shortened MLB season, as well as the restart of the NHL and NBA, sports bettors had very limited options.

The brick-and-mortar casinos didn’t fare as well as its online counterparts. The state’s nine casinos were down 20.9 percent year-over-year, winning $248.7 million. In July 2019, Atlantic City casinos won $323.3 million.

Operators can attribute a large chunk of that missing revenue to the restrictions put in place by Gov. Phil Murphy. Murphy forced casinos to operate at 25 percent capacity and would not allow smoking, drinking or dining inside the properties.

In response to those measures, Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, the state’s highest-grossing casino, decided to postpone its reopening. After a few weeks, executives adjusted to the mandates, offered outdoor dining and reopened on July 23.

In the eight days it was open, Borgata reported $8.4 million in winnings, but it was the first month in quite some time that it didn’t top the state’s revenue list. That honor went to Hard Rock Atlantic City, which reported $24.6 million in revenue. Borgata, likely for the first time in its history, was the lowest-grossing casino in New Jersey.

Ocean Casino and Harrah’s were the only other properties to gross more than $20 million with $23.6 million and $21.2 million, respectively.

Two summers ago, Frank Crivello got oh so close to winning what would have been his first career World Series of Poker bracelet in an online event, finishing in fifth place in the $3,200 Online High Roller event. Presented with an opportunity to secure the jewelry on Saturday in a 2020 WSOP Online event, Crivello didn’t disappoint.

The San Diego resident outlasted 830 other players to win Event #53 ($800 Double Stack Pot Limit Omaha) for $106,252.72 and that highly coveted WSOP bracelet.

It took roughly thirty minutes into the final table for the first player to fall. Crivello put in a min raise holding AsKdJdJc and Pulkit Goyal three-bet pot to 2.25 million with KhKc6d4c. This prompted Crivello put in the four-bet and Goyal made the call, putting his tournament life at risk. The [th][5d][3d] flop gave Crivello a flush draw but it was the [jh] turn that gave him the lead in the hand. The [9d] river improved Crivello’s hand to a flush and he sent Goyal to the rail in ninth place for $8,854.

Ajay Chabra found himself following Goyal out the door of his second 2020 WSOP final table as he found himself all-in and at risk holding KcJcTdTh against Julijan Rados’ AdAh7c2d. The Qd6c7h flop was of little help to Chabra and the news didn’t improve on the 5h turn or the Kd river. Chabra was eliminated in eighth place for $12,080.

Canada’s Markus Cara nearly put himself all-in when he raised pot with Ad6d5s5d. He was called by Crivello on the button holding QdQs8h6s. The flop fell 8d3d3s and Cara put his few remaining chips in the middle and Crivello quickly made the call. All-in and behind Cara watched as the 2s turn and 9s river ended his tournament in seventh place, good for $16,480.

The bustouts continued to come as Jin Li raised pot with the KsQdQc7c only to be three-bet by Rados who had Li covered and held AhAdKh4d. Li made the call, putting himself at risk and the table saw a board of 8s7d3dJdTs giving Rados the nut flush and taking out Li in sixth place for $22,483.

Tszfai Tong was the next to be shown the door when he shipped his short stack in holding KdKc8s2h and was called by Crivello who had JdJh6c4c. The flop came ptc]3c2d once again giving Crivello a flush draw which he spiked on the turn as the Qc hit. The 3s river changed nothing and Tong logged off in fifth place earning $30,672.

A major clash at four-handed play between the UK’s Craig Timmis and Yonathan Journo sent Journo out the door next. Journo and Timmis got both their stacks in the middle pre-flop with Journo at-risk and holding KhKd6d4s while Timmis held QcQh7d3s. The QdTs4d flop gave Timmis a set which held through the 9h turn and 2h river. Journo exited in fourth place and picked up $41,485.

No one seemed ready to go broke when the play got down to three-handed as the double-ups continued and the chips spread around the table.

Eventually, Timmis and Rados faced off when Timmis raised pot on the button with AhKd5c4s and Rados made the call holding AhKd5c4s. The pair saw a flop of Qh4d3s and both stacks got in the middle with Rados at risk. The Tc turn gave Timmis a higher pair which held through the 8d river. Rados ended in third place earning $57,088.

Although Crivello lost the chip lead for a moment during heads-up play, the momentum quickly swung back in his favor and he and Timmis got it all-in preflop with the title on the line. Timmis held 6h6c2c2s to Crivello’s pkd]Kh6s3d. The 7sKc2h flop gave both players a set. When the 9d hit the turn, Timmis was looking for the final deuce in the deck. The river fell the 5c eliminating Timmis as the runner-up in his second final table of the series and adding $77,883 to his bankroll.

Frank Crivello walked away with the $106,252.72 first-place prize and his first career gold bracelet.

Final Table Payouts

Frank Crivello – $106,252.72
Craig Timmis – $77,882.52
Julijan Rados – $57,087.59
Yonathan Journo – $41,845.08
Tszfai Tong – $30,672.34
Jin Li – $22,482.71
Marcus Cara – $16,479.80
Ajay Chabra – $12,079.62
Pulkit Goyal – $8,854.34

Enrico Camosci is the latest player to secure a gold bracelet during the 2020 World Series of Poker Online. The Italian overcame a field of 1,168 total entries to emerge victorious in the $2,100 buy-in no-limit hold’em bounty championship event. For the win Camosci secured his first piece of WSOP hardware and a total of $327,319 in earnings, with $184,579 in prize money and another $142,740 in bounties. This is the largest recorded score of Camosci’s career, overtaking the $252,340 he earned as the winner of a $10,300 buy-in side event at the 2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

Camosci came into the final table of this event as the chip leader after knocking out Alex Difelice in 10th place ($10,304). The first elimination at the official final table took place when 2017 WSOP main event seventh-place finisher Damian Salas run pocket fives into the pocket queens of Aki Virtanen. Salas made a full house by the river, but Virtanen made quads to lock up the pot and send Salas to the rail in ninth place with $36,527 in total earnings for the event, including both prize money and bounties.

2014 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event winner Dominik Panka was the next to fall. His last chips went in with AHeart Suit4Heart Suit, only to have Murilo Figueredo call with AClub SuitQClub Suit. Neither player improved and the ace-queen high of Figueredo was enough to send Panka home with $37,378 in total earnings as the eighth-place finisher.

High-stakes tournament regular Connor Drinan’s run in this event came to an end as a result of his losing a preflop coinflip with AClub SuitKSpade Suit against the 6Spade Suit6Diamond Suit of Virtanen. The pocket sixes held up and Drinan was knocked out in seventh place, taking home $44,312 in total earnings. Virtanen continued his bounty collecting spree by busting Renato Valentim in sixth place. The chips all got in preflop with Valentim holding ASpade Suit8Spade Suit against the KHeart SuitQSpade Suit of Virtanen. Both a king and a queen appeared on the flop to give Virtanen top two pair. He held from there and Valentim settled for $44,463 in earnings.

Camosci earned his first bounty at the official final table when his A-9 beat out the K-6 of short stack Murilo Figueredo. Camosci made aces up by the river to send his eliminate his opponent in fifth place ($69,849) and take a chip lead into four-handed action. He extended that advantage even further when his AClub Suit10Club Suit outran the QSpade SuitQDiamond Suit of Alexander Fitasov in a preflop showdown. Camosci flopped an ace, turned two pair, and avoided a queen or a jack on the river on the river to send Fitasov home with $77,293 as the fourth-place finisher.

Despite his early run of knockouts, it was Aki Virtanen that was the next to run out of chips in this event. He got all-in on a KDiamond SuitQDiamond Suit5Diamond Suit flop with the 10Diamond Suit9Diamond Suit for a flopped flush. He was up against the ADiamond Suit10Club Suit of Omer Ozsirkintis. The 9Spade Suit turn kept Virtanen ahead, but the 3Diamond Suit river gave his opponent the higher flush and the pot. Virtanen earned $144,249 as the third-place finisher.

With that Camosci entered heads-up play with roughly 18.5 million in chips to Ozsirkintis’ 10.7 million. In the end it came down to a coinflip, with Ozsirkintis getting all-in with ADiamond SuitKHeart Suit against the 7Spade Suit7Heart Suit of Camosci. The flop came down ASpade SuitJSpade Suit5Spade Suit to give Ozsirkintis top pair and Camosci a flush draw. The 10Club Suit on the turn changed nothing, but the 3Spade Suit on the river completed Camosci’s flush to secure him the pot and the title. Ozsirkintis was awarded $182,564 in prize money and bounties for his runner-up finish.

Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:

Tony Dunst is known by many poker fans for his work as an analyst and commentator on the World Poker Tour broadcast. But he’s also known among poker players as a legitimate threat at the tables, and that side of Dunst was on display in the $777 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed event on Tuesday where the poker pro came out on top of a 1,361-entry field to win $168,342 and his second career WSOP bracelet.

Dunst made a deep run in the very first event of this year’s WSOP Online Bracelet Series, finishing in third place for $57,881. He had three more small cashes in this series before Wednesday morning’s big score gave him his fifth cash of the series and the 56^th WSOP cash of his career. Dunst has more than $1.2 million in WSOP tournament earnings and more than $3.8 million in total live earnings, according to his Hendon Mob profile.

Jon Turner (havuuuuuc) also advanced to the 6-handed final table in Event #21. Turner has more than $3.5 million in tournament earnings over the course of his impressive poker career, but his quest for a first WSOP bracelet will continue as he was the first player eliminated from the final table.

$777 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed Results

1. Tony Dunst (Panoramic) $168,342
2. James Pace (paymycollege) $103,940
3. Alec Parslow (Tango_Bravo) $72,215
4. Charles Phillips (IloseStackz) $50,779
5. Krista Gifford (Pollux) $36,203
6. Jon Turner (havuuuuuc) $26,199

Shoma ‘pp_syon’ Ishikawa wrote his name in the poker history books as the first player to ever win a World Series of Poker gold bracelet in an online event held outside of the United States. The international-facing segement of the 2020 WSOP Online kicked off on GGPoker on Sunday, July 19. There were meant to be three bracelet winners decided on the first day of action, but a bug saw the online site suspend action in the events #32 and #33, which meant that event #34 was the first and only to play down to a winner. The $525 buy-un super turbo bounty six-max no-limit hold’em event attracted a total of 2,214 entries to create a final prize pool of $1,107,000. Ishikawa earned his first WSOP gold bracelet and a total of $117,650 as the eventual champion.

Ishikawa’s win saw him become just the third player from Japan to win a WSOP bracelet, following in the footsteps of 2012 $5,000 pot-limit Omaha six-max winner Naoya Kihara and 2015 $1,000 no-limit hold’em champion Takahiro Nakai. This was his first WSOP score.

This event’s designation as a ‘super turbo’ tournament certainly held true. The tournament took roughly three hours and fifteen minutes to play down to a winner. A total of 314 players made the money, with a min-cash being worth $567. Among the notable players to make deep runs in this event were Chance Kornuth (311th – $567), Farrid Jattin (271st – $567), four-time World Poker Tour champion Darren Elias (266th – $567), Michael Soyza (136th – $779), two-time WSOP bracelet winner Mark Radoja (107th – $866), Fedor Holz (96th – $866), three-time bracelet winner Adrian Mateos (76th – $866), and Mike McDonald (26th – $2,188).

Diego ‘El Motron’ Ostrovich held the chip lead when the final table was set, with Gary ‘STARDOG13’ Johnson sitting in second. WSOP bracelet winner and WPT main event champion Daniel ‘Gyrocopter’ Strelitz was in third chip position, with Ishikawa sitting in fourth place. Tom ‘Pik00rs’ Delaine was the first to be eliminated. He got the last of his short stack in with 10Diamond Suit7Club Suit up against the QHeart Suit3Club Suit of Ostrovich. Queen high was good by the river and Delaine was sent to the virtual rail with $20,225, including his payout and bounties.

Yulian ‘Ector’ Bogdanov was the next to fall. He got all-in with 10Diamond Suit8Diamond Suit and at risk against the QClub SuitJClub Suit of Strelitz. Bogdanov flopped a pair of tens to take the lead, but Strelitz turned a pair of queens to regain the advantage. The river improved neither player and Bogdanov was knocked out in fifth place ($34,677).

Strelitz called all-in with 9Heart Suit9Diamond Suit facing a shove from Ostrovich on the button. Ostrovich held JDiamond Suit10Club Suit for two overcards. A ten on the flop gave Ostrovich the lead and he never looked back from there. Strelitz fell just a few spots short of earning his second bracelet, earning $50,431 in total for his deep run in this event.

Ostrovich continued his knockout spree by making the nut flush with AHeart SuitKSpade Suit to best the AClub Suit8Spade Suit of Gary ‘STARDOG13’ Johnson, sending him home with $51,801 in total earnings and bounties as the third-place finisher.

Ostrovich started heads-up play against Ishikawa with roughly a 3.5:1 chip lead. Ishikawa was able to close the gap considerably before the next big preflop confrontation arose, though. The two got all-in preflop with Ishikawaholding AHeart Suit9Heart Suit against the KSpade Suit10Club Suit of Ostrovich. Ishikawa made two pair on the flop and held from there to take a commanding lead of roughly 8:1. Ostrovich was left with just a few big blinds. He got his last chips in with 5Spade Suit3Diamond Suit and was called by the 9Heart Suit6Spade Suit of Ishikawa. The board ran out AHeart Suit8Heart Suit3Heart Suit9Spade Suit5Heart Suit and Ishikawa made a flush to secure the pot and the title. Ostrovich earning $86,972 with his runner-up payout and the bounties he accumulated along the way.

Final Result Event #34: $525 Super Turbo Bounty No Limit Hold’em 6-Handed

Cheers to Scott Hempel (“BudLightLime”), who won the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo Deepstack at the WSOP Online Bracelet Series. The poker player who apparently enjoys cheap beer won $181,060 one day after reaching another bracelet-event final table.

Hempel took 7th on Friday in the $777 No-Limit Hold’em event for $22,250, a tournament won by Pat Lyons (“IchiiKawawa”). On Saturday, in the 18th event of the WSOP.com series, he improved his performance and earned his first bracelet.

The most recent World Series of Poker champion took down the 697-player tournament in just over seven hours. His six-figure cash paid out over $25,000 per hour of play at the online poker site. He has more than $200,000 in cashes the past two days. And he’s also now among the contenders for the $100,000 WSOP.com series leaderboard, a pseudo-Player of the Year award.

Quick Day at the WSOP Online Bracelet Series

Winning fast money is tough to beat. “BudLightLime” made quick work of his opponents at the final table thanks in large part to some big hands, and of course the fast-paced tournament structure.

When heads-up play against Myles Kotler (“Shipthemoney”) began, neither player had many big blinds. With the blinds at 600,000/1,200,000, and both players under 25 million chips, it was inevitable that the tournament would end quickly, and it did.

On the final hand, Hempel called an all-in bet with a 2.5-1 chip advantage with pocket tens against K-10. The best hand held up when the board ran out J-8-6-J-A. “Shipthemoney” didn’t ship the bracelet but he did ship a ton of money — $111,955, to be exact.

A number of big name pros were among the 143 players who cashed in the $1k. That includes two former world champions, Phil Hellmuth (“Lumestackin”), who took home $1,781 for 97th place and Ryan Riess (“bitc0in”), who also earned a small cash (32nd place for $4,219). Poker vlogger Ryan Depaulo (“joeyisamush”) picked up his fourth cash of the series, this one $1,969 for 84th place, a far cry from his bracelet title earlier in the week.

Landon Tice (“ActionDealer”), a 21-year-old poker pro on the rise, also ran deep, reaching his first World Series of Poker final table. The Florida native finished in 6th place in Saturday’s WSOP Online Bracelet Series event, a $29,817 score.

Low-stakes poker returns to the 2020 WSOP Online Bracelet Series on Sunday. At 3 pm PT, Event #19 kicks off, a $400 No-Limit Hold’em tournament on WSOP.com.

The 2020 online World Series of Poker saw its first non-American bracelet winner Saturday night as Belarus’ Raman “Acrogum” Afanasenka took down the $500 no-limit hold’em turbo deepstack six-max event.

Afanasenka bested a 1,691-entry field and a stacked final table that featured three bracelet winners to earn his first bracelet and $128,601.

With the victory, Afanasenka more than doubled his career earnings to $240,830. Before his bracelet win, Afanasenka’s largest cash was $48,910 for a victory in a $550 no-limit hold’em event during the 2018 Wynn Summer Classic.

Afanasenka denied Chance “BingShui” Kornuth his third bracelet and an epic comeback by coming out on top of their heads-up battle. Kornuth, who was down to 1/9th of a big blind earlier in the tournament, settled for a runner-up finish and $79,291.

The other two bracelet winners at the final table, Brett “Metanemesis” Apter and David “Twizzlers” Prociak finished third and fourth, respectively. Apter, who won the $1,500 no-limit hold’em shootout for $238,824 during last year’s WSOP, earned $57,071, while Prociak netted $41,472 for fourth place.

Former Full Tilt Poker Pro Erica “Huckcheevers” Lindgren finished sixth for $22,676 and Neeraj “nee0903” Nayak took fifth for $30,514.

Other notable finishers in-the-money finishers include Tom Cannuli (11th – $7,762), Brian Yoon (13th – $6,088), Ankush Mandavia (21st – $3,881), Dan Zack (32nd – $3,120), Eric Blair (35th – $3,120), Jesse Sylvia (40th – $2,587), Nick Pupillo (52nd – $2,207), and Ryan Laplante (69th – $1,598).

Afanasenka was at the top of the chip counts when the final six players reached the final table, followed closely behind by Kornuth, with Lindgren and Nayak at the bottom of the counts.

Afanasenka was nearly a one-man wrecking crew at the final table, scoring four of the five eliminations. Afanasenka eliminated Lindgren when his pocket sixes held against her A-J, knocked out Nayak when his A-2 wasn’t outflopped by Nayak’s 7-5 and sent Prociak home when he picked up pocket aces in the small blind against Prociak’s A-10 suited.

Kornuth eliminated Apter in third after he picked up pocket queens in the big blind and Apter shoved K-9 from the small blind. Kornuth flopped a set and faded a gutshot straight draw to square off against Afanasenka for the title.

Afanasenka held the chip lead at the outset of heads-up play, but by the time they got to the first break, Kornuth had overtaken the Belarusian. Afanasenka regained the chip lead when he slow-played a flopped flush, allowing Kornuth to bluff every street, including a river shove.

Shortly after, the two got all in with the title at stake in a race situation. Kornuth showed KClub Suit6Club Suit and was up against Afanasenka’s 3Heart Suit3Spade Suit.

Kornuth flopped two pair to take the lead, but the 3Club Suit came on the river to eliminate Kornuth in second.

020 WSOP Event #11 Final Table Results

Robert ‘bustinballs’ Kuhn is the latest player to emerge victorious with a 2020 World Series of Poker gold bracelet. The Barnesville, Ohio native defeated a field of 2,091 total entries in the WSOP Online $400 buy-in no-limit hold’em event to earn his first bracelet and the top prize of $115,850. This was Kuhn’s second major live tournament title, having previously won the 2016 WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Atlantic City $1,675 no-limit hold’em main event for $122,098.

This tournament attracted 1,450 unique players, who collectively re-entered 641 times to create a final prize pool of $752,760. With 2,091 total entries, the top 330 finishers made the money in this event, with a min-cash worth $602.

Plenty of accomplished players made deep runs in this event, including six-time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel ‘DNegs’ Negreanu (210th – $677), Ali ‘sasukeuchiha’ Imsirovic (79th – $1,280), Ari ‘philivey’ Engel (76th – $1,280), 2015 WSOP main event winner Joseph ‘fanofdapoker’ McKeehen (57th – $1,731), double bracelet winner Niupun ‘Javatini’ Java (35th – $2,936), five-time bracelet winner Berry ‘numbers86’ Johnston (34th – $2,936), two-time bracelet winner Calvin ‘projector52’ Anderson (18th – $4,592), and 2015 WSOP main event fifth-place finisher Thomas ‘.beast.’ Cannuli (17th – $4,592).

When the final table of nine was set, Kuhn held the chip lead with 7,572,410 or the roughly 31.3 million chips in play. Short stack Andrew ‘AndrewFreund’ Fruend was the first to fall when he ran A-8 offsuit into the pocket queens of Max ‘ndirish50’ Huster. Roland ‘prngls12’ Israelashvili followed him to the virtual rail when his 10Heart Suit10Diamond Suit failed to best the QSpade SuitQClub Suit of Kuhn. Israelashvili has now cashed in all three of the WSOP Online events held thus far this summer. He currently sits in fourth place on the all-time leaderboard for career cashes in WSOP bracelet events with 115.

Christopher ‘pokerher2014’ Fuchs got the last of his chips in with AHeart Suit7Heart Suit up against the 9Spade Suit9Club Suit of Theodore ‘klubot’ Lui. Fuchs failed to improve and was knocked out in 7th place ($16,184).

Richard ‘Doc33’ Federico scored the next three eliminations, sending Evan ‘Escott121181’ Scott (6th – $21,454), Max ‘ndirish50’ Huster (5th – $28,605), and Theodore ‘klubot’ Lui (4th – $38,466) home to take a sizable lead into three-handed play. Kuhn was able to battle his way back into the lead by the time the next key showdown arose. With blinds of 120,000-240,000 and an ante of 30,000, Kuhn raised to 810,000 from the small blind with KSpade SuitKHeart Suit. Federico three-bet to 2,332,500 out of the big blind with QClub SuitJClub Suit and Khun moved all-in for more than 15.4 million Federico called for just over 10 million. The board ran out JSpade Suit8Spade Suit6Diamond Suit5Heart Suit10Diamond Suit and Federico was eliminated in third place ($52,242)).

With that Kuhn took roughly a 5:1 chip lead into heads-up play against Ronald ‘rlksaces’ Keren. Over course of the first half-hour of action Keren was able to close the gap and even overtake the chip lead. Kuhn won a big pot with a turned straight to regain control, though, and had re-opened a sizable lead by the time the final hand was dealt. With blinds of 200,000-400,000 and an ante of 50,000, Kuhn raised to 800,000 holding 8Spade Suit8Heart Suit. Keren three-bet to 2,075,000 with the KSpade Suit10Spade Suit. Kuhn moved all-in and Keren called for his last 5,756,210. The ASpade SuitJDiamond Suit7Spade Suit flop gave Keren a flush draw and a straight draw to go along with his overcards, but the 4Club Suit on the turn and the 2Diamond Suit on the river were no help. Kuhn’s pair of eights were enough to secure the pot and the title.

Final Table Results of 2020 WSOP Event #3

Bellagio’s move to six-handed poker games is leading other rooms in Las Vegas to take measures that will allow them to offer the same. The Las Vegas Review-Journal notes that the use of dividers allows Bellagio to permit one extra player per table over the standard five-handed games now taking place in Nevada, and makes masks optional rather than required.

Garrett Okahara, poker room manager at The Orleans, told the Review-Journal he has ordered dividers and hopes to install them by the end of this week so his room can also offer six-handed poker.

Video credit: reviewjournal.com

Like the handful of other poker rooms that have reopened, The Orleans has seen big business, with more than 20 games running at times on the weekends. That poker room opened on June 4, as was one of the first in Las Vegas to resume operations.

Although I assumed there would be pent-up demand upon opening, the demand has certainly exceeded my expectations to this point,” Okahara said in an email to the newspaper. “It can only get better with six players, too!

To Plexiglass, or Not to Plexiglass?

Caesars Palace, which saw double-digit tables running over the weekend, indicates that it will stick with five-handed poker for now, telling the Review-Journal that the room is “getting plenty of business” without dividers, and that “the players are happy.”

The Venetian and Golden Nugget have also not indicated plans to add dividers to allow six-handed poker.

The NGCB announced last week that casinos must require gamblers to wear masks when plexiglass dividers aren’t installed. Before that requirement, visitors reported that the vast majority of casino patrons didn’t wear masks, even though casinos encouraged face coverings.

South Point, the other Las Vegas poker room that reopened in June, requested to run six-handed poker without dividers. Poker room manager Jason Sanborn told the newspaper he believes the new mask requirement negates the need for plexiglass.