Rising Star Using PPP Loan to Bring Back Workers as Indiana Casino Prepares for Possible Mid-June Reopening
Posted on: May 23, 2020, 12:46h.
Last updated on: May 25, 2020, 09:08h.
UPDATE (8:45 pm PT, May 25) – This article has been updated to clarify any confusion about the term “laid off,” which typically represents a permanent reduction, as opposed to a furlough, which is a temporary reduction. it also adds a line to clarify that previous Rising Star Casino Resort employees will need to reapply.
However, in a statement Monday to Casino.org, Rising Star General Manager Ben Douglass, reaffirmed the company’s plan to rehire as many previous workers as possible:
“We absolutely are looking to rehire our laid-off team members prior to posting the positions for new hires,” he said. “In some cases, team members have moved on to other opportunities or decided to enter retirement at this time, for those positions we will look to hire a new team member. I would imagine our rehired team members will account for well over 90 percent of our total number once we are fully staffed again.”
The Rising Star Casino Resort has received approval from the Indiana Gaming Commission (IGC) to bring staff back on site as needed, General Manager Ben Douglass told Casino.org on Friday.
The Rising Sun-based casino is one of two Full House Resorts properties to receive Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. The federal program established in the CARES Act passed two months ago allows small businesses and other qualified companies to receive loans that can be forgivable if the recipient spends at least 75 percent of the proceeds to keep or bring back employees on the payroll within eight weeks of receipt.
By the end of the month we will have about 100 employees working full time, plus the PPP loan will give us the ability to be fully staffed for an anticipated opening date of June 14, pending IGC approval,” Douglass told Casino.org in an email. “Staff will be deep cleaning, repairing, and renovating in anticipation of COVID-19 needs, as well as overall property improvements.”
The casino, the largest employer in Indiana’s smallest county, notified 407 of its 443 workers they were “terminated,” or laid off, at the end of March, according to a notice posted with the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. In the letter to the state, the company said it anticipated having positions available for which most current employees may apply if the casino were to reopen.
Rising Star and the 11 other state-licensed casinos and racinos closed on March 16 because of the coronavirus emergency in the state. For now, state gaming officials anticipate casinos reopening sometime after the beginning of the fourth stage of the state’s COVID-19 recovery plan.
The fourth stage is expected to begin on June 14.
On Thursday, Full House announced that its Silver Slipper Casino and Hotel in Mississippi reopened. The Silver Slipper is the Las Vegas-based company’s flagship casino, generating 44 percent of the company’s revenue last year.
Indiana Casinos Bringing Back Workers
Last week, the commission released its guidelines that casinos must address in order to reopen. In order to control the spread of the coronavirus, casinos, among other things, must reduce the number of seats at table games and enforce social distancing in slot machine areas. Capacity will be limited to no more than 50 percent.
Jenny Reske, IGC deputy director, told Casino.org Friday that most casinos in the state were starting to bring back staff to get ready for reopening, although the commission does not know if others are ramping up at the same scale as the Rising Star.
No Conflict with Loan
Full House is a publicly traded company, and Dan Lee, Full House’s CEO, is married to US Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nevada).
The CARES Act does contain language that precludes senior administration officials and members of Congress, as well as their immediate family members, from receiving funds from some emergency relief programs. But it only applies to companies where an official or their family member has a 20 percent or greater stake in the company. According to SEC filings, Dan Lee holds a 7.6 percent stake in the gaming company.
The provision also applies only for emergency funding programs managed by the Treasury Department or Federal Reserve, like the Main Street Lending Program. PPP loans are administered by the Small Business Administration.
In a call to discuss the company’s quarterly earnings earlier this month, Lee touted the company as a “prime candidate” for the program, since the money was being used to put employees back to work at Rising Star and Bronco Billy’s, a Colorado casino that received a $2.2 million PPP loan.
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Last Comments ( 14 )
That place was outdated and filthy before COVID-19 happened. It will be interesting to see how they handle safety and sanitation now. Also, way to go Ben saying employees were "laid off" when they were definitely terminated and have the paperwork stating so.
I am thinking of never returning to this casino again after hearing the news that they terminated their employees instead of laying them off. They are going to re-hire 50-60 year old people who worked there since they opened 25 years ago? These people LOSE their seniority and have to start all over? Shame on you.
I've been coming from Columbus, Oh to the boat for 21 years. I'm very upset by the termination news. If Full House uses this crisis to screw over the people who have performed the work that genetates the revenue, that is despicable! The perception is just that. Not to mention the disaster they would encumber trying to find experienced workers from a younger generation of folks, many of whom are "sitting this one out". RSC management:. If you don't fix it, I will picket! And I expect to have 407 friends with me. ... Remember? This is what friendly looks like!!!
We all were terminated. The letter said we could reapply but that doesn't guarantee we will get out jobs back. Our lives weren't a game of roulette.....thanks for playing!
Not only were the employees terminated not just laid off most found out about it on social media. Maybe would have been nice to receive a personal phone call thanking them for all their hard work and informing them of the decisions being made. Not reading about it on Facebook.
"In the letter, the company said it anticipated having positions available for most current employees if the casino were to reopen". Define "current employee". We were terminated. There is a handful of employees on property. Our termination letters explained that if the casino were to reopen that we could apply for openings as new employees. And from the sounds of it, regardless of what you used to do or which position you might be hired for, you're going to spend some time doing maintenance that's been neglected for the last 15 years. In an area where the people would rather cut their noses off than support anything like healthcare and college for all, they can instead watch this crooked business use tax dollars to fund their payroll♀️
They fired us all!! All 407!! We were not laid off and then the majority of us had issues getting our unemployment. Why don’t you report the facts? And report them correctly! And then we were not even guaranteed we would get our jobs back, we were told we could reapply when they reopened. Yes we received emergency pay for one week and then we received letters of termination, not letters stating we were laid off until further notice! LETTERS of TERMINATION!!!!
There's a big TYPO in your article. We were not laid-off, we were FIRED outright. I still have the letter they sent to all of us, saying so. Correct it.
They FIRED us 407 employees!!! They didn’t lay us off. They mailed us all letters of termination!!! Why don’t they own up to what they really did.
They didn’t lay off 407 employees, they FIRED them!
Laid off? You mean fired!!! Fired people who worked there since the boat was first open. Rising Star terminated their employees and I dont think they should receive any loan.
What they failed to mention was Rising Star didn’t lay those 407 people off. We were terminated with a chance to reapply if they open. But by that, the workers who have been there since day 1 has lost all of their benefits and seniority and have to start back at the bottom if they were to reapply. This was a way for them to reset everyone’s seniority so everyone can be paid the same and accrue the same amount of vacation. They took advantage of the situation and didn’t give one thought about their good employees who have been there since it was Grand Victoria in 1996. It’s sad to see all those people affected. I had only been there since 2014 so it’s sucks for me as well but more so for those who had gained so much in those 22 years. It’s sad.
You fired all the workers here in Rising Sun. How do you “call them back”?
Please revise this, they terminated their employees.