Mohegan Sun Lays Off Hundreds

Mohegan Sun has announced it’s to lay off 475 employees, the first major layoff for the casino during the recession. Management says around 120 affected workers could be hired back in new positions. WNPR’s Harriet Jones reports.

Mohegan Sun, which has a workforce of about 9,000, has already reduced the headcount at its gaming operations by about a thousand workers since the beginning of last year. But this has largely been achieved by attrition, and Tuesday’s announcement is the first time the casino has had to resort to a mass layoff. Rival Foxwoods laid off hundreds of employees back at the start of the recession, but Mohegan Sun took the approach of an across the board wage and salary cut instead, saying it wanted to avoid putting people out of work. CEO Mitchell Etess says this was a tough decision.

“As much as we had tried to control our labor and reduce our expenses without doing this, we really found ourselves in a difficult position of having to do something we really didn’t want to do, but we had no choice. We’re not seeing any change in the economy, the recovery’s been slower, our revenues continue to decline, and we’re certainly being very cautious about what we think going forward.”

Many of the layoffs will come among the casino’s food and beverage workers as it closes one of its two buffet restaurants, along with a snack bar and two food court outlets. Some table game employees will also be affected. The gaming sector has continued to struggle to attract big spenders back to the slots and the tables this year, even as the economy begins to recover. Mohegan Sun has a debt load of more than $1.5 billion, and it faces having to restructure its finances as major loans come due.

For WNPR, I'm Harriet Jones.