It was a busy week for casinos in Las Vegas as one major brand took another PR hit, while another won the week with some good news. We’ll start with those two pieces as we recap the casino news of the week:
MGM 2020 Plan Involves Layoffs
It’s been a little bit of a rough time for MGM Resorts International in terms of public relations and they’ve taken another hip upon their latest announcement. In a move that panders moreso to Wall Street than it does to their employees, the company has announced a “2020 Plan”, which is a nice way of spinning that they intend to trim the MGM workforce by three percent over the next 12 months. That translates to nearly 2,100 layoffs by January of 2020.
Early reports from the Las Vegas Review-Journal indicate that most of the layoffs will apply to “managers and above”, but we’ll have to see if they do in fact end up cutting low-level salary positions in the long run.
MGM is looking to get some love from Wall Street after their shares plummeted by more than 27 percent in value in 2018. Of course, one way is to cut operational costs and that’s what they’ll be looking to do here.
MGM announced these layoffs in spite of some recent public relations missteps, such as hiking parking fees in Las Vegas on The Strip. Also, in the wake of the October 2017 shooting which killed 58 people, the worst mass shooting in American history, MGM ended up filing lawsuits against some of the victims of the shooting for tangled legal reasons, which did not make sense as a matter of practical politics.
Caesars Entertainment Secures First NFL Casino Sponsorship Deal
While MGM has taken some hits, Caesars Entertainment Corporation is all smiles these days. That’s because they’ve scored a bi-sponsorship deal with the NFL. Caesars signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with the popular sport, making Caesars the first official casino sponsor of the NFL.
The two sides won’t waste any time getting going as we’re expected to see a rollout of some sort during the 2019 playoffs, which have already begun. Under the terms of the agreement, Caesars will have exclusive rights to NFL trademarks in both the United States and United Kingdom to promote its casino properties and have advertising territory at the NFL Draft and the Super Bowl.
It was also announced that Las Vegas will host the 2020 NFL Draft. This is occurring in conjunction with the Oakland Raiders’ impending move to Las Vegas and the NFL’s new association with the city of Las Vegas. This deal will try to capitalize on the Raiders’ presence in the Las Vegas market.
Blue Chip Casino Player Has Unforgettable New Year’s Eve Night At The Slots
Talk about a nice way to start the New Year. A player at the Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City, Indiana hit it big on New Year’s Eve, hitting the jackpot on the Triple Red Hot 7’s. For their lucky spin, they ended up taking home a whopping $230,225.
The slot machine, which stands alone in the High Limit Room, is an expensive one as it only takes wagers in $25 denominations.