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Leading up to Labor Day weekend, the workforce at the Detroit casino experienced another decline.
Starting later this month, Greektown Casino-Hotel is set to initiate another round of layoffs, affecting an additional 43 employees. This workforce reduction is the latest in a series of cutbacks witnessed within Detroit’s gaming sector.
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent closure of gaming facilities on March 16, Detroit casinos have had to lay off approximately 3,000 workers. This unfortunate event occurred just five days after the introduction of regulated sports betting.
According to a report by the American Gaming Association, the casinos in Detroit employ approximately 7,600 workers, which accounts for approximately 40% of the workforce.
Greektown, MGM Grand Detroit, and MotorCity Casino have resumed operations at a limited capacity of 15%, while implementing a no-smoking policy on the casino floor. According to Greektown General Manager John Drake, these restrictions have added to the challenges faced during an already difficult year.
The timing of our property reopening and the extent of the new operating conditions were unforeseeable, leading to an unexpected decline in business volumes.
Greektown already announced more than 600 layoffs
The announcement of Greektown was communicated via a federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) issued on Thursday.
This marks the second announcement this summer for the Penn National Gaming casino.
In June, Greektown made an announcement about the forthcoming layoff of 621 employees, which would commence on September 15. Eric Schippers, the Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and Government Relations at Penn National, confirmed that a total of 26,000 employees were furloughed across the company in April.
MGM, MotorCity slashed over 1,000 jobs apiece
The competitors of Greektown in Detroit have also inflicted painful blows of their own.
According to Playinmichigan, MGM Grand Detroit recently announced that they had to let go of 1,100 furloughed employees last week.
18,000 employees lost their jobs as a result of a reported nationwide restructuring carried out by MGM Resorts International, which included these losses.
In July, due to the pandemic, MotorCity had to furlough 2,554 employees. However, following the recent announcement of the casino’s reopening date, general manager Bruce Dall stated that approximately half of their workforce would be rehired.
State, city impacted by shutdowns too
Not only are the displaced employees affected, but the shutdown is also having an impact on the tax revenues of local governments.
As of July, Detroit casino revenue had experienced a 65% decline in year-to-date comparisons with 2019.
The result was a decrease of $45 million in state tax revenue and a $66.1 million decrease for the city of Detroit.
There were no available numbers as of Tuesday in August.
