While a number of Southern California casinos have shut their doors to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, some were still open for gambling as of Monday afternoon, March 16.

Related links Which Southern California casinos are open and closed amid coronavirus pandemic

This despite Inland county bans on gatherings of 250 or more, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urging the cancellation or postponement of gatherings of 50 or more for eight weeks and a wave of other closures – including schools, bars, wineries, and breweries – in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that has sickened almost 170,000 and killed more than 6,500 worldwide.

In California, more than 330 coronavirus cases have been confirmed – 15 in Riverside County – with six deaths blamed on the disease. Gov. Gavin Newsom has urged those 65 and older to self-isolate at home.

Though several casinos on tribal land announced plans to close through the end of the month over the weekend, some Riverside County casinos, including Agua Caliente Casino Palm Springs, Agua Caliente Resort Casino Spa Rancho Mirage, Cahuilla Casino near Anza, Soboba Casino Resort near San Jacinto and Spotlight 29 Casino near Coachella remained open Monday, as did Tortoise Rock Casino near Twentynine Palms in San Bernardino County. Also, Pala Casino, Spa & Resort near Pala and Valley View Casino and Hotel near Valley Center — both in San Diego County, were open Monday.

Representatives from most of the casinos had not responded to requests for comment by early Monday afternoon.

On its website Monday, Pala announced the closure of several venues, including the Poolside Café & Bar, Choices The Buffet, Sushi Sake, High Limits Lounge and Pala Spa.

And by Monday afternoon, Michael Felci, a spokesman for Fantasy Springs Resort Casino near Indio, said the casino would be closing starting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 17, at least through March 31.

In a statement issued on social media, Jeff L. Grubbe, chairman of the tribal council for the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, said that while the casinos were staying open, additional measures had been taken, including closing the buffets at both venues, postponing shows at both venues and closing the Sunstone Spa in Rancho Mirage.

By late Monday evening, Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa near Cabazon announced that it would be temporarily closing its doors starting at noon on Tuesday, March 17 through March 31.

Because the casinos are on sovereign tribal land, the county can’t order them to close, Riverside County spokeswoman Brooke Federico said.

“We understand that it’s an economic hardship and would have a lasting impact for any business to close down,” she said. “We appreciate that some have taken the proactive measure to close.”

Peter Melnicoe, a former chief counsel for the state Gambling Control Commission, said that tribes “on their tribal land, do have a measure of sovereignty.”

Because of that, while the state’s criminal laws apply, regulatory laws generally do not, he said.

Tribes with casinos sign gaming compacts with the state.

“I don’t know of anything – I’d have to take a look – but I can’t think of anything in compacts dealing with epidemics or pandemics … which would cede authority to the state to basically close down casinos,” Melnicoe said.

Tribes are subject to federal law, Melnicoe added. “The feds could potentially shut (the casinos) down if there is federal statute that allows it.”

Over the weekend, San Manuel Casino near Highland and Pechanga Resort Casino near Temecula announced that they would suspend operations through the end of March.

To lessen the chance of contracting COVID-19, public health officials are recommending people stand at least 6 feet apart from each other in public settings. But whether it’s playing slots, gathering around gaming tables or hitting the buffet table, casino patrons – many of whom are senior citizens at higher risk of death due to coronavirus – typically are shoulder to shoulder.

Jim Rodriguez, a 61-year-old Long Beach resident, said by phone Monday he was going to Valley View Casino & Hotel on Tuesday. He said he planned to bring sanitizing wipes for slot machines for use before he played, but otherwise wouldn’t do anything out of the ordinary.

Rodriguez said he believes the media is blowing the situation out of proportion, scaring people and hurting the economy.

“I’m not going to be afraid of this,” he said. “Look, if this thing starts spreading like it spreads in China that might be different, but it’s not over here and it’s safe and there’s just this unnecessary panic going on. It’s got this rolling effect where one casino closes and then another casino has to close and Vegas has got to close.”

Frequent casino visitor David Van Buren, a 71-year-old Highland resident said by phone Friday that he found it concerning that the casinos had not decided to close because they are often packed with thousands of people and a significant percentage of their clientele is older.

“If Disneyland can’t operate, why in the world would a casino operate?” Van Buren said.

Van Buren said he felt that canceling or postponing events, which many of the casinos announced plans to do last week, was not enough.

“The events, that’s the least of their problems as far as spreading the virus, because you’re sitting there in one spot and you’re not interacting with the environment like you are when you gamble,” Van Buren said. “When you’re gambling you’re constantly touching machines, the slot machines, and one person leaves and another person sits on the same machine.”

Many of the casinos last week issued statements that they had increased cleaning efforts, including more sanitization of frequent touch points such as slot machines, elevator buttons and handrails. Van Buren said he was not convinced that was effective.

“You would literally need to have a person, an employee, follow the gambler from one machine to another machine,” he said. “You would virtually need an employee to watch each customer as they move from one position to another. There’s no way they could do that.”