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Wild Rose Casino in Jefferson reopens

Travis Dvorak spoke with Local 5 about how the casino is reopening safely after 75 days with their doors closed.

Several casinos in Iowa are reopening their doors for the first time in months, including Wild Rose Casino in Jefferson. 

They had people lining up to get inside this morning. 

Local 5 News: Your location was closed for 75 days straight because of the coronavirus. How does it feel to finally be open back for business [Monday]?

Travis Dvorak, Wild Rose Casino: Truly a mixed bag, but I think it's the relief of being open... people are just ready getting back to a normal. Maybe a new normal, but people are ready get back. Our employees ... get back to work, our customers are happy to get out and have a little fun in gaming. So it's a nice next step.

Local 5: I'm sure there's a lot of pent-up demand and obviously a lot of pent-up interest in your employees getting back to work. For casino guests that walk through the doors now, how will their experience be different In the wake of coronavirus than it was before,

Dvorak: Well you got it right, the experience will be different. 

There's a lot of things that are going on. Like all the other businesses that are reopening, we're trying to responsibly ... we're trying to make sure everybody's health is the utmost of our concern. So when you come in, the first thing you'll see is we'll allow you to wear a mask. We're not requiring it, but we are encouraging it. 

All our slot machines are socially-distanced apart. We have a lot of signage and a lot of stickers on the floor, like you see a lot of grocery stores ... where if you want to go the ATM or with a kiosk machine, you got to keep your six feet. 

If you go to a restaurant, you'll see that the restaurants ... all the tables and chairs are socially spaced. We've got limited menu when you go. There's a lot of limitations on what you can and can't touch, or try and leave the contact surface at a minimum so everybody can say healthy. 

Customers will notice that we have a lot of plexiglass in a lot of areas just so we can have that. If we can't have that distance, we can have that barrier to keep everybody safe.

RELATED: Casinos, amusement parks, outdoor playgrounds in Iowa able to reopen starting Monday

Local 5: We know that typically some of the busiest times for casinos are on the weekends, Friday night, Saturday night. Will there be a sort of a maximum capacity where if the casino gets full, and you can't safely handle any more people, do you foresee possibly getting into like a one-out, one-in kind of situation?

Dvorak: Yeah, I think that is very feasible. I think that's something that we do plan on happening for the first few weekends right now. 

There is some mandates and the proclamation does limit us. For us, it's 300 people. We have a system in place for keeping counterweight coming and going so we have a running total. We have a host out front so that as we get close to that number, the host will be able to stop and say 'Okay, one-in one, one-out.'

And for those who are waiting in line, if that happens, instead of being stuck in this long line, I have chairs throughout our facility and the hallway that are six feet apart so you can keep your distance. Plus we will take your phone number down, so we could call you or text you. So if you want to go back to your car, or if you're in a hotel, you wanna stay in the hotel you can go back to somewhere safe and we'll call you when it's time to come in. 

I think it's a way that we can keep track of everything, keep everybody safe. Not just while they're on the floor, but while they're waiting to get on as well.

RELATED: Coronavirus in Iowa by the numbers: Cases, testing and deaths

WATCH: Complete coronavirus coverage from Local 5 on YouTube

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