Salaries for non-tipped positions at Southland Casino Racing in West Memphis will now start at $15 an hour.

The welcomed news comes as Southland looks to resume normal operation.

Tomeka Banis is a security officer and is one of hundreds of employees seeing their pay boost to at least $15 an hour. She got the good news while she was off last week and just couldn’t believe it.

“That’s all I can say is, wow because I been here seven years and this is highest pay that we have gotten,” she said. “I had to actually go to my supervisor to make sure that the news was true.”