The president and CEO of Mohegan Sun says the casino will be laying off more than 300 employees due to revenue declines during the recession.
Mitchell Etess, the casino’s top officer, announced Tuesday that the layoff will affect 475 of the company’s workers but 120 of them will be reassigned to other positions within the casino. The other 355 employees will be let go permanently.
“It is nothing we wanted to do, or even hoped we would have to do,” Etess said.
Etess said after two years of using attrition to lower the casino’s employees from 10,000 to 9,000 workers, the Mohegan Tribal Council approved the layoffs Monday, which included 47 employees in management.
Etess said this is the first time the casino has had mass layoffs and all affected employees will be notified by Tuesday evening. More than half of the layoffs — 275 — came from the food and beverage portion of the casinos.
The president also said the casino plans to close one of its two buffet restaurants and use more third-party operators for its eateries. There is simply less demand for food and beverage in the casino.
Etess wouldn’t detail casino’s savings from the layoffs, deferring the Mohegan’s next quarter earnings call.
