Mississippi casino operator announces layoffs

Published 10:08 pm Tuesday, July 14, 2020

A U.S. casino company with 29 properties in 10 states is laying off thousands of employees, citing a slow restart to business following closures due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming Corp. said in a statement Monday that an unspecified number of furloughed employees will not return to work. The company operates two casinos in Mississippi – The IP Casino Resort in Biloxi and Sam’s Town casino in Tunica.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported 2,500 company workers in Nevada could be affected.

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“While we have been able to reopen most of our properties,” the company said, “we are still facing significant restrictions on our business, and visitation levels remain well below pre-pandemic levels.”

Boyd in May posted notice under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 that it might let go 25% to 60% of its workforce. It said Monday layoffs were at the “lower end” of the projection.

The publicly traded company had about 10,000 employees in Nevada and another 14,300 nationally, according to its last annual report. It has properties in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Company spokesman David Strow said Tuesday that all company casinos have reopened, except three in Las Vegas. The Nevada closures in mid-March followed an order by Gov. Steve Sisolak aimed at reducing the spread of COVID-19.