Unpopular opinion here... I don't think the casinos should pay the employees during the shutdown.

Casinos pay employees to work, if they're not working why should they get paid? Casinos and most jobs don't care about the livelihoods of their employers, their main purpose is obviously to make money. They clearly won't be making money if they're not even open. Sure, they could continue paying their employees now and go bankrupt off the back of it. Or they could just not pay them and let the government step up to protect its tax payers.

An employer-employee relationship shouldn't mean you should suddenly start paying people to do nothing when shit hits the fan. If these people don't have their own savings then that's on them.