Managers received notice on January 6
Hotel and gaming operator?MGM Resorts has announced it will furlough 140 managers from its various Las Vegas properties, effective January 11. The move comes as businesses operating in Sin City’s depressed tourism and entertainment industry look to contain the financial fallout caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
temporary reductions in staffing across our Las Vegas properties”
MGM Resorts spokesman Brian Ahern said that projected business volumes for the start of 2021 remain low because of COVID-19. The dip in business means MGM Resorts is “unfortunately requiring temporary reductions in staffing across our Las Vegas properties”, he added in an email statement. Ahern confirmed that the managers in question received notice of their furloughs on January 6.
On December 13, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak extended by a month the current statewide pause in place since late November. Pause regulations limit casinos floors to 25% capacity, a business cut that restaurants and bars also have to endure. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Gov. Sisolak’s order is “set to be in place until January 15.”
MGM cut staff while eyeing online expansion
The Review-Journal reported that furloughed managers who have MGM Resorts health plans will remain eligible for benefits. In addition, they can avail themselves of the company’s worker grant fund, training, and staff resources.
The announcement of the furloughs comes one week after MGM Resorts’ renewed $11bn bid for Entain, previously known as GVC Holdings. Entain’s portfolio includes over 30 gaming brands, with its significant pandemic-resistant online presence deemed a good fit for MGM Resorts’ own online expansion strategy.
MGM Resorts has introduced additional furloughs and layoffs since the outbreak of COVID-19. In August, it permanently laid off approximately 18,000 US workers. In October, MGM Grand and Park MGM, along with Tropicana, announced they would be laying off 1,172 workers. Altogether, MGM Resorts furloughed almost 63,000 workers in 2020.
Devastating ripple effect
The pandemic has made regular visitors to Sin City think twice before boarding a plane, which is having a devastating effect on the state’s tourism and entertainment industry.
Las Vegas currently tops the nation’s unemployment charts
The effects of COVID-19 reverberate in a new report by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, which on January 5 revealed that about 11.5% of the Las Vegas area workforce was jobless in November 2020. This means that, among large US metro areas with a minimum population of one million people, Las Vegas currently tops the nation’s unemployment charts.