Thousands of Casino Workers in Louisiana Losing Jobs

By Mike J. Davies Editor in Chief at Casinos.US Updated: 07/22/2020

Mike J. Davies Editor in Chief at Casinos.US See Full Bio

Mike is our Senior Editor and experienced gambling strategist. A former hockey player, he transitioned to the casino industry after finishing his B.A. in English. Blackjack systems, online casino guides, gambling terms, and more – Mike is familiar with all fine points of gambling.

Casino Job Loss

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, there have been huge problems for businesses such as casinos across the United States. As a result of the pandemic, casinos in Louisiana and other parts of the country had to close their doors in mid-March and have only recently started to reopen. During the closure period, casinos suffered huge financial losses.

It has now been revealed that thousands of casino workers in Louisiana are set to lose or have lost their jobs because of the difficulties that casino properties face. While casinos are now back open, it is with strict new measures in place, which limits their ability to make as much as they did prior to the pandemic.

Job Losses Continue to Rise

Due to the financial losses and restrictions in place, many casino workers in Louisiana have already lost their jobs. It has now been announced that a further 1,375 jobs are to be lost, which comes after Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notices were filed by five casinos in June. This will bring the number of job losses close to 3,000.

One of the casinos is Boomtown New Orleans, which will remain open but plans to lay off more employees in August. In the notice that was filed, Brad Hirsch, the general manager, said that Penn National Gaming, which owns the casinos, did not foresee the extent of the problem.

He also put it down to the severe restrictions that casinos have had to operate by since reopening. In the notice, he said:

These significant drags on our business will likely continue for the foreseeable future. Finally, we could not have anticipated when our properties would be allowed to reopen and how restrictive the new operating conditions would be, and the negative impact this would have on business volumes.

The impact has been seen at all casinos across the state. Others that are laying off members of staff or have already done so are L’Auberge Casino at its Baton Rouge and Lake Charles properties, and Margaritaville in Bossier City.

Huge Impact of COVID-19

While rules have been relaxed and casinos have been allowed to reopen, the effects of the global pandemic have been devastating and continue to wreak havoc. The many weeks of casino closures since mid-March meant huge financial losses for both the casinos and for the state, which missed out on gambling revenue.

In addition to this, casinos are now only able to operate at a fraction of their previous capacity, which means fewer gamblers playing at the casino at any one time. More stringent cleaning and sanitization means that casino employees have to spend more time cleaning the facilities, which has affected opening hours for some casinos.

In addition to this, casino resorts that offered additional facilities, such as buffet dining, have been unable to open all facilities. This has further impacted on the amount of money that they can make. As a result, many have found it impossible – and unnecessary – to keep all staff members on.