Thousands Of Casino Workers To Lose Pay, Benefits

http://www.kotv.com/main/home/storiesNL.asp?whichpage=1&id=95044

Thousands of casino employees on the Gulf Coast are losing insurance benefits and salaries as the companies end post-Katrina assistance to concentrate on rebuilding gambling houses hammered by the hurricane.

Two New Orleans casinos remain closed, as do 12 casinos that once dotted Mississippi's Gulf Coast. Most of those were wrecked by the Aug. 29 storm's powerful winds and wall of storm surge. Nearly all the companies agreed to continue paying workers on a temporary basis, but that's ending, or has already stopped.

Larry Gregory, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission, said Wednesday nearly 14,000 casino employees remain out of gambling-related jobs. Mississippi coast casinos employed 16,000 people before Katrina. ``I understand a lot of those people left the coast for other jobs,'' he said. ``A lot of the people have gone to Las Vegas.''

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The Isle of Capri in Biloxi, which had been paying its workers since the storm, is set to reopen Dec. 26 with about 800 employees. Imperial Palace, also in Biloxi, is scheduled to open around Christmas as well.

everyone knows that all the NOLA victims were on welfare or part of a criminal enterprise :sarcasm:

14,000 people. Dear god

casino workers can do......

Off of their other casinos? I was in Las Vegas recently. The casino business certainly wasn't hurting there! If I was Steve Wynn, or whoever is a big owner of those Gulf Coast casinos, I'd make a big deal out of bailing out the employees of the Gulf casinos with some of the profits from my Vegas ones. The Vegas casinos can afford to take a little more of a hit, and it would certainly be good publicity.

BTW, I was amazed at the number of people in Christian t-shirts walking around "Sin City". :D