Osage Casino Ponca City Open
Osage Casino in Ponca City is one of seven Osage Casinos owned and operated by the Osage Nation. The other six are in the Okla homa ci ties of Bartlesville, Hominy, Pawhuska, Sand Springs, Skiatook and Tulsa. Osage Casino Ponca City opened in December 2007. It is located at the intersection of U.S. 60 and City View Road. Tulsa’s Osage Casino will reopen at 10 a.m. On Friday, following the Ponca City location’s reopening that happened May 8. Find out what’s open in the area here.
Osage Casino in Ponca City reopened on Friday morning with a reduced capacity and hours. The casino has been closed since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Only one entrance and exit is open at the Ponca City location, both on the south side of the property. Security is monitoring how many guests are allowed on the casino floor, which will be approximately 25 percent of capacity.
Byron Bighorse, CEO of Osage Casinos, was at the reopening on Friday and was thrilled one of the properties could open. “The Ponca City location was ready and willing to step up to reopen. I can’t say enough about the fantastic team we have here at the Ponca City location.”
“We are going to see how the demand goes right now,” said Bighorse. “There is no hotel, no food service and no table games. The convenience store is open. Our top priority is to keep our patrons and employees safe.”
The bar area at Osage Casino is open. “The area is open but we have removed some tables and chairs at the bar. We want to encourage social distancing. Obviously if someone is sitting with their significant other there isn’t a problem there. We will have a problem when crowds gather to watch something on television. If I see things are getting out of hand, I won’t hesitate to shut things down.”
As part of their reopening guidelines, all employees are required to wear masks until further notice. “Guests will be strongly encouraged to wear a mask and we will make them available, but we will not ask anyone to leave if they do not wear a mask,” said Bighorse.
Every other machine is also turned off inside the casino as a way to promote social distancing.
The Ponca City location will be open from 10 a.m to midnight daily and until 2 a.m. on the weekend.
Osage Casinos were closed on March 18 at all of its locations. “Obviously we thought the closure would only last about two weeks but then things continued and we went through the entire month of April,” he said. “The COVID-19 pandemic has absolutely devastated the tribe.”
Osage Casino Ponca City Oklahoma
Employees of the Osage Casino locations were paid for approxiately two weeks until the casino had to stay closed longer and employees were furloughed.
“We have applied for the PPE program and have been funded $9.1 million to help us cover payroll and other expenses for the next couple of months,” he said.
Osage Casino Ponca City Ok
The Osage Casinos in Tulsa, Sand Springs, Bartlesville, Skiatook, Hominy and Pawhuska will reopen on May 15.