As jobs go wanting, gaming operators increase wages, benefits

June 12, 2021 10:00 PM
  • Rege Behe, CDC Gaming Reports
June 12, 2021 10:00 PM
  • Rege Behe, CDC Gaming Reports

It was a rainy April 14 on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, with temperatures in the high 60s. The Scarlet Pearl Casino in Biloxi was holding a job fair and if no one came because of the stormy conditions, well, there’d be other days.

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But people came. They wanted to work. They told Scarlet Pearl Vice President of Human Resources Gretchen Holzhauser they’d long been searching for jobs, to no avail.

Until that day when the casino hired 35 workers.

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Scarlet Pearl courtesy photo

“We were able to fill a lot of positions that day,” Holzhauser says. “The response rate to the things we’ve been doing has been overwhelming, the likes on Facebook, the shares of our posts. It’s resonating with our community.”

Across the country, casinos are trying to find workers for positions on gaming floors, and in guest and food services. They offer signing bonuses, increase hourly wages and hold promotions such as a cooking demonstration by the executive chef of San Manuel Casino in Highland California, which is seeking 800 food and beverage workers. Bronco Billy’s in Cripple Creek, Colorado is offering bonuses to its employees for referrals of qualified new workers.  And Rivers Casino Pittsburgh is offering to pay new employees just to train for table game positions at nearby Community College of Allegheny County.

“You’re currently not employed, and you want to work,” says Rivers Assistant General Manager Bud Green, noting that there’s always a need for table games dealers. “But some people can’t wait six weeks to go through training and not get paid.”

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Conventioneers walk around Mohegan Sun’s Earth Expo & Convention Center, courtesy photo

The Mohegan Sun in Connecticut has held hiring events that offer bonuses ranging from $500 for housekeeping positions to $2,000 for jobs in culinary. On May 26, Mohegan hired over 100 new workers at such an event.

“The success we’ve seen from the job fairs that we’ve hosted thus far – including two in May – shows that many people are more comfortable and enthusiastic about coming in for interviews,” said Mohegan Sun President and General Manager Jeff Hamilton via email. “With the world opening back up, I think we’re all eager to get a sense of `normalcy’ back and we’re proud to be playing a role in rebounding our community and the state.”

According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay for gambling service workers in 2020 was $27,050, or $13.01 per hour. To attract more workers, some casinos are raising the average hourly rate to retain employees and attract new ones.

The outlay of money and benefits is not only necessary to attract new workers, but shouldn’t impact gaming operators’ bottom line.

“Casinos have been able to cut costs substantially through the pandemic across a variety of departments, so incremental labor cost increases should be absorbed in a manner that’s not too financially impactful,” says Fitch Group Senior Director and Sector Head for U.S. Gaming & Leisure Colin Mansfield.

The Scarlet Pearl recently bumped its hourly rate to $15 for non-tipped workers, and increase paid immediate dividends.

“By raising these rates for some of our employees we’ve been able to create a work/life balance for them,” Holzhauser says. “They’ve been able to eliminate having to carry two jobs because of the wage increases that we’ve given out in certain positions. They’ve come up to us and thanked us because they don’t have to go to that second job two or three days a week anymore because of the increases that they’ve received.”

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Las Vegas 2021, Shutterstock

Employment site ZipRecruiter lists more than 48,000  jobs, from warehouse associates and administrative assistants to project managers and delivery drivers, in or near Las Vegas. But unemployment in Clark County, where Vegas is located, is 9%, the second-highest in the country, according to a recent story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Tilman Fertitta, the billionaire CEO of hospitality and gambling conglomerate Landry’s, recently told CNBC’s Power Lunch that his businesses were busier than ever, but weekly stimulus checks issued by the government stopped people from looking for work.

“Everybody’s getting the extra $300, people aren’t working so they are going out and they are having dinner and they are going to the casinos, but at the moment I can’t find employees, they are spending all the money with me,” Fertitta said.

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Candidates being interviewed at a May job fair, courtesy Boyd Gaming

Boyd Gaming Vice President of Communications David Strow acknowledges there are various theories about why people aren’t working. But he points to a recent job fair that indicates people do want to work.

“At one of our restaurant job fairs we had several hundred people show up,” Strow says. “The turnout was impressive. We had one ballroom set aside and we had people waiting in two other ballrooms as overflow. It is encouraging to see that kind of enthusiasm by people coming out to apply for positions with our company.”

At Rivers Casino Pittsburgh, Green says there are over 300 people who have worked there for 10 years or more. To put that in perspective, a report by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics stated the median number of years that wage and salary workers had been with their current employer in January 2020 was 4.1 years.

Green credits the casino’s number of longtime employees to a generous benefits package, and the work ethic of the city.

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Rivers Casino Pittsburgh, courtesy photo

“I know the pride they take in their work is great,” Green says of Rivers staffers. “They show up to work, they put a smile on their face every day making sure that they’re giving the best customer service to our guests, and that’s what makes me so proud of them. I definitely see that work ethic reflected in our team members.”

At the Mohegan Sun, Hamilton noted there are “hundreds of team members that have been with us since the very first day we opened in 1996.” He points to awards the company has earned, including being certified as a “Great Place to Work” by USA Today and ranking among the Top 10 in Fortune Magazine’s “100 Best Workplaces for Diversity”.

“Even though we are an entertainment destination that has nearly 5,000 team members,” Hamilton said, “there are very strong bonds that form among team members at Mohegan Sun, and there is a culture of mutual respect, collaboration and welcoming attitudes that permeate inside and outside of our property.”

Strow acknowledged that the Las Vegas market is very competitive right now and that good employees have options. One of the reasons Boyd has been successful in its efforts to recruit new workers is a legacy of brothers Bill and Sam Boyd, who founded the company in 1975.

“To create a workplace that feels like a family company, that has always been our goal to create that kind of culture,” Strow says. “We promote the fact that we are about giving our team members the opportunity to build a career with us, not just a job, but a career where they can grow. We play those things up because they give us a distinctive advantage over some of the other opportunities available to them.”