The casino company Genting is to cut up to 1,642 jobs at clubs and hotels across the UK owing to Covid-19, in a move that the GMB trade union described as a “serious slap in the face” to workers.
While pubs, restaurants, shops and even bookmakers in England have been allowed to open as coronavirus lockdown restrictions eased, casinos remain among the businesses not permitted to do so.
Genting, which is one of the largest casino operators in the UK, told staff at 27 of its venues that it intended to cut costs by shutting down services, including poker games and hospitality.
The Malaysian firm is the latest in a long line of businesses to blame Covid-19 for job cuts, with John Lewis and Boots among the high street names that have made redundancies.
In documents sent to staff, it blamed the “impact of Covid-19 resulting in temporary closure of business and reduced trading hours and changes to operating model”.
It will permanently close casinos in Margate, Torquay and Bristol, while other sites face severe job reductions, with some venues proposing to shed more than half of their employees.
“This announcement by the company is nothing short of outrageous,” said Mick Rix, a GMB national officer.
“It’s a serious slap in the face to loyal and long serving staff – as well as UK public. Taxpayers’ cash has funded Genting to the tune of millions of pounds during lockdown: now they are making people redundant rather that contribute towards the government furlough scheme from the end of August.”
As well as the three casinos that are closing, Genting’s cuts will affect staff at clubs across the country, including in London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Blackpool and Birmingham.
Genting said it had faced heavy losses since the shutdown and was making changes to the way it operated to be ready to reopen. It added: “In light of these changes, we are having to make some heartbreaking decisions about the future of the business and it is with huge regret that job losses are simply unavoidable.”
The group confirmed 1,642 jobs were at risk but added: “We will be doing everything we can to bring those individuals back in to the business at a later stage. The job retention scheme, however, is just that and therefore when it became clear to us that a significant number of roles could likely not be retained, it was only right to begin the redundancy consultation process rather than continuing to take government money via the furlough scheme.”
There is continuing uncertainty in the casino industry about when it will be able to welcome back gamblers. While other hospitality businesses were permitted to open their doors earlier this month, casinos have still not been told when they can reopen, prompting criticism from leading figures in the industry.
Michael Dugher, the chief executive of industry body the Betting and Gaming Council, wrote to the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, this month, urging him to include casinos in plans to lift lockdown restrictions.
“The UK casino sector were sorely disappointed not to be included in the list of industries allowed to reopen on 4 July,” he wrote.
Dugher said government support for closed casinos to retain staff was costing the Treasury £5m a week, adding: “Casinos want to get back in business and once again contributing to the economy, not costing the Exchequer money.
“With phased reductions in wage support kicking in soon, there is however a real fear that if reopening doesn’t happen in July there will be severe damage caused to the casino industry.”
