Grand Casino Minnesota locations temporarily close due to coronavirus outbreak

Grand Casino in Mille Lacs and Hinckley will be closing at 4 p.m. Monday for two weeks.

According to a statement from Grand Casino, although there are currently no cases connected to the casino, the casinos will be closing for an initial period of two weeks at which point conditions will be reassessed.

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Grand Casino also announced that while the casino will be closed, they will be leveraging their resources to serve the community by providing school lunches to students who attend public schools in Onamia, Isle, Hinckley-Finlayson, McGregor, and Nay Ah Shing lower and upper schools. In addition, the casinos will help the Mille Lacs Band community.

"We developed a cross-functional COVID-19 preparedness team that meets regularly. The team has evaluated preparedness and increased measures to protect our Associates, Guests and communities," said Joe Nayquonabe, CEO of Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures, the parent company that owns Grand Casinos. "Since Governor Walz’s announcement, we have reflected on the leadership that businesses like ours must demonstrate during a time like this and decided to temporarily close our casino operations in order to keep that protection in place."

Grand Casino is committed to your safety! We have made the decision to temporarily close our doors to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. There have been no cases connected to our casinos, but we know it is the right thing to do.
Learn more: https://t.co/hwucmMhXFg pic.twitter.com/3jRXgT4aGF

— Grand Casino (@grandcasinoMN) March 16, 2020

The Casino announced they would be paying both salaried and hourly positions during the closure.