MGM Resorts warns of layoffs. Are Mississippi Coast casinos closing for coronavirus?
Casinos in South Mississippi rarely close, usually only for strong hurricanes, but concerns over the spread of the new coronavirus have regulators watching to see what to do next.
“We’re going to be very fluid with this,” Allen Godfrey, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission, said Friday morning.
A directive was being sent to all casinos to supply their coronavirus plan, he said. The commission wants to make sure the casinos are taking measures to keep the guest rooms and public areas clean and sanitized according to the directives of the state Health Department and Center for Disease Control.
As of Saturday, five states has suspended all casino operations: Massachusetts, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania and New York.
All Mississippi Coast casinos are so far operating as normal, and no concerts or conventions were canceled or postponed this weekend.
KVVU-TV in Las Vegas reports MGM Resorts International, owner of the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, sent an email letter to the entire company saying “several” employees had tested positive for coronavirus.
MGM Northfield Park property in Ohio will close temporarily, MGM President and COO Bill Hornbuckle said in the letter.
All MGM properties have suspended operations at day clubs and night clubs; starting Monday spas, salons and fitness center will close; and 150 food and beverage outlets will close on a rolling basis. Earlier in the week, the Las Vegas buffets were closed.
Furloughs and layoffs are expected to begin next week, the letter said.
“Some areas of our business operations have already begun layoffs in areas most immediately impacted by the slowdown in demand,” Hornbuckle said in the letter. “These decisions are never made lightly, and we deeply regret the hardship it will place on these individuals and their families.”
The Sun Herald has reached out to the Beau Rivage to see if and how it is being affected, and has not yet gotten a response.
Boyd Gaming is closing one casino near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for two weeks after the governor ordered all schools and entertainment venues in that area to close.
“That was in a county that had a high volume of cases,” said Godfrey, who spoke to the executive director of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.
Boyd Gaming is the parent company of IP Casino Biloxi.
Hard Rock Casino Biloxi staff is taking extra precautions to keep the resort sanitized, but hasn’t canceled any events except for Friday’s John Pardi concert, which is being postponed to a later date.
For now, it doesn’t matter that Mississippi doesn’t have online sports betting like Pennsylvania or New Jersey, since there are few games being played.
On what was to be one of the busiest weeks of the year for sports betting, Godfrey said the cancellation of March Madness and most other sporting events will have a negative effect on sports betting.
In January, Mississippi casinos had 1.7 million visitors, 1.2 million of them coming to the 12 Coast casinos and more than half of them from within Mississippi and Alabama.
More than 10,000 people work at the Coast casinos and 16,400 statewide, according to the Gaming Commission.
This story was originally published March 14, 2020 at 8:00 AM.
