Wind Creek Bethlehem lays off about 450 people due to coronavirus impact
https://www.mcall.com/coronavirus/mc-nws-coronavirus-wind-creek-bethlehem-layoffs-20200924-rl2fzzhqofelrc5y5mudwzv77i-story.html
Edited: Click link for full story.
Wind Creek Bethlehem is laying off 20% of its staff — about 450 people — because of the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on business, a casino official said Thursday.
The casino notified furloughed employees they will not be asked to return to work, and eliminated some jobs, spokeswoman Julia Corwin said.
“We closed Emeril’s Fish House permanently today," Corwin said, referring to the restaurant connected to celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse.
Wind Creek Bethlehem temporarily closed March 15, four days before confirming one of its employees tested positive for the coronavirus. Two more employees tested positive by March 27.
The casino paid its roughly 2,400 employees through the end of May but furloughed 2,095 of them June 1, as the downturn entered its third month.
When it reopened June 29, more than three months later, statewide safety measures dictated casinos operate at no more than 50% normal occupancy. Wind Creek Bethlehem had less than 50% occupancy, with just 1,200 of its 3,045 slots operating and limitations on the number of players at its tables.
The casino called back about 1,400 of its employees at the time. It planned to recall more as it increased its capacity.
In August, its first full month since reopening, Wind Creek logged gambling revenue of $28 million in July, the lowest full month of gambling revenue recorded in nine years.
If patrons don't feel safe they aren't coming. The first full month of reopening and Wind Creek does horrible. Suddenly workers are laid off
What happened to your saving the economy by reopening?
Of course I am all for reopening in areas that took extreme measures to Tampa down the infection rate. Yes the economy was hurt but clearly it was a no win situation anyway.
If the economy is going to be damaged no matter what you do, might as well save lives doing it
Quote: darkozIf patrons don't feel safe they aren't coming.
For better or worse, Florida has thrown caution to the wind, and declared the state, once again, is open for business. As I see it, the state bets it can convince patrons -- including visitors, conventions, and a February 2021 Superbowl in Tampa, with every seat in the stadium filled -- to come and visit. Florida is going all-in on reopening its economy and all-done with the pandemic.
Over the next several months, we will all see whether or not the pandemic is all-done with Florida.
if this is the "new normal" as they are trying to make us believe, and then they want us to support local businesses who also make us put up with these hypocritically dumb rules (mask on while walking through the business, mask off when sitting down hahaha right), then they will fail too.
"were protecting you by implementing these new suggestions" - righttttt
everyone who believes this "pandemic" are too scared to even go out, and the ones who do go are fed up with the extra crap, because they know its crap, and will eventually not come back because of how they are treated now and how they will be treated for the rest of time.
i was at a restaurant this past weekend, not related to wind creek, and we saw one of our friends who subsequently came over to our table to take a shot with us, and he immediately got scolded and told he couldnt join our group for it because of the rules. that was one of our 3 strikes. yeah the business has a 3 strike rule. never will i ever go back to that business.
lol if any of you all think this is sustainable i think im going to keep laughing at this thread and say screw these businesses and that i hope they all fail. screw the casino. and screw any business who chooses to implement things that are not even laws. these are suggestions that are being illegally enforced at the cost of the business owners who actually think this is going to end.
"the new normal"... doesnt sound like it is ever going to end to me.
this pandemic is that amount of people who followed these suggestions and decided that it was okay to shut down our economy.
Quote: heatmapnot a single person wants to put up with all of these extra rules that must be followed. wind creek is a ghost town. the whole point of going out to the casino is to have fun with other people. these new rules make it about business and business only. come in bet your money, and leave. there is no extra activities to make me stay. no nightclub, no restaurants, no bars. i mean there really is no point in going.
if this is the "new normal" as they are trying to make us believe, and then they want us to support local businesses who also make us put up with these hypocritically dumb rules (mask on while walking through the business, mask off when sitting down hahaha right), then they will fail too.
"were protecting you by implementing these new suggestions" - righttttt
everyone who believes this "pandemic" are too scared to even go out, and the ones who do go are fed up with the extra crap, because they know its crap, and will eventually not come back because of how they are treated now and how they will be treated for the rest of time.
i was at a restaurant this past weekend, not related to wind creek, and we saw one of our friends who subsequently came over to our table to take a shot with us, and he immediately got scolded and told he couldnt join our group for it because of the rules. that was one of our 3 strikes. yeah the business has a 3 strike rule. never will i ever go back to that business.
lol if any of you all think this is sustainable i think im going to keep laughing at this thread and say screw these businesses and that i hope they all fail. screw the casino. and screw any business who chooses to implement things that are not even laws. these are suggestions that are being illegally enforced at the cost of the business owners who actually think this is going to end.
"the new normal"... doesnt sound like it is ever going to end to me.
this pandemic is that amount of people who followed these suggestions and decided that it was okay to shut down our economy.
The irony of your statement is twofold.
First you appear to be concerned about business (isn't that the argument about keeping the economy open) but you state unequivocally you hope these businesses fail because they enforce standards you don't agree with!
That doesn't sound like someone who cares about the economy. Just their own self-interest!
Secondly, the irony is those people that you put down as feeding into the pandemic restrictions are the very same people going on with life, making money and yes, enjoying their outings even with the restrictions. So after arguing for reopening it's you who are unsatisfied and will eventually destroy (and openly wish for) a destroyed economy
As for this pandemic being real, I have lost a good friend to it. Please don't tell me my friends death was fake. That's highly insulting
Quote: darkoz
That's highly insulting
sorry if you think thats going to make me change my opinion but in my experience this is how i feel
Quote: darkozThe first full month of reopening and Wind Creek does horrible.
That statement is very misleading.
Horrible based on what comparison?
Horrible compared to the revenue they had in the first full month re-pened after a prior pandemic ? That didn’t exist. So there’s no way to say $28 million is great or terrible.
The article says it was the worst month they’ve ever had and I can guarantee you they fully expected that to be the case before they reopened. Keep in mind a lot of the overhead expenses are lower as well. Revenue figures and how good or horrible they are is totally based on what the forecast was, as you might know from investing. So who knows, maybe they only expected $20 million.
Horrible compared to prior year’s Augusts? Again obviously not comparable.
$28 million is $28 million more than they made any month March through July.
Quote: michael99000That statement is very misleading.
Horrible based on what comparison?
Horrible compared to the revenue they had in the first full month re-pened after a prior pandemic ? That didn’t exist. So there’s no way to say $28 million is great or terrible.
The article says it was the worst month they’ve ever had and I can guarantee you they fully expected that to be the case before they reopened. Keep in mind a lot of the overhead expenses are lower as well. Revenue figures and how good or horrible they are is totally based on what the forecast was, as you might know from investing. So who knows, maybe they only expected $20 million.
Horrible compared to prior year’s Augusts? Again obviously not comparable.
$28 million is $28 million more than they made any month March through July.
"Worst month they've ever had"
Employees laid off.
Not sure how you spin this any other way but horrible
Quote: darkoz"Worst month they've ever had"
Employees laid off.
Not sure how you spin this any other way but horrible
Again, you’re comparing their first month after reopening from a pandemic to all the prior years and months of them being open when it was total normalcy.
And March through July every worker they had was laid off. Now some have their jobs back.
How is $28 million in revenue and some employees working not better than $0 revenue and every single employee not working ?
Quote: darkoz"Worst month they've ever had"
Employees laid off.
Not sure how you spin this any other way but horrible
surely not worse than the month’s of zero revenue.
Quote: unJonsurely not worse than the month’s of zero revenue.
"Implied" means understood without having to actually say it.
Clearly when the article says Wind Creek had it's worst month ever they mean "operating" month.
They were not operating during the Pandemic shutdown. Of course there was zero revenue..
My argument about reopening isn't that businesses should remain closed forever. It's that the businesses needed to stay closed until the pandemic was under control.
Again, don't try to misconstrue that statement. Under control does not mean "vaccines working" or "eradicated".
It means people spreading the disease at a minimal rate of transfer and a low death toll.
Incidentally these are measurable terms. The CDC I believe and possibly WHO gave analytics to go by.
Quote: darkoz"Implied" means understood without having to actually say it.
Clearly when the article says Wind Creek had it's worst month ever they mean "operating" month.
They were not operating during the Pandemic shutdown. Of course there was zero revenue..
My argument about reopening isn't that businesses should remain closed forever. It's that the businesses needed to stay closed until the pandemic was under control.
Again, don't try to misconstrue that statement. Under control does not mean "vaccines working" or "eradicated".
It means people spreading the disease at a minimal rate of transfer and a low death toll.
Incidentally these are measurable terms. The CDC I believe and possibly WHO gave analytics to go by.
I really don’t follow. The decision for the casino is simply whether it’s better to operate or not. So they compare the month of not operating to the month of opening and having “their worst operating month.” You are jumping to a conclusion that they opened too soon? Doesn’t follow from available data. Why do you reject: worst operating month >> not operating this month ?
Quote: darkoz
My argument about reopening isn't that businesses should remain closed forever. It's that the businesses needed to stay closed until the pandemic was under control.
Why ?
If you can prove that them being open now is causing a significant increase in the virus being spread due to people playing there, then I’ll agree. But that area of PA is still seeing virus figures drop.
If you’re statement is based on the fact that revenue was low in the first month back and only some workers got their jobs back, then i completely disagree. When rules state that you can only operate at 50% capacity , then any reference to “worst revenue month ever” is pointless.
Quote: unJonI really don’t follow. The decision for the casino is simply whether it’s better to operate or not. So they compare the month of not operating to the month of opening and having “their worst operating month.” You are jumping to a conclusion that they opened too soon? Doesn’t follow from available data. Why do you reject: worst operating month >> not operating this month ?
And it very well may lead to them closing.
Already they have laid off many workers.
If COVID conditions change, I’m sure closing again will be on the table. But the basic point of disagreement between us here is your implication that reopening somehow caused the layoffs. I don’t understand what you base that on. The counter factual to me is more would have been laid off absent reopening.Quote: darkozAnd it very well may lead to them closing.
Already they have laid off many workers.
Quote: unJonIf COVID conditions change, I’m sure closing again will be on the table. But the basic point of disagreement between us here is your implication that reopening somehow caused the layoffs. I don’t understand what you base that on. The counter factual to me is more would have been laid off absent reopening.
Sorry that wasn't what I was trying to imply.
To be clear I was referring to the four months of shutdowns in the Spring when people were protesting that businesses should have "no shutdown period" to avoid ruining the economy
That the economy would have been ruined regardless of keeping open those four months vs. staying shut down because patrons simply would not show up during a Pandemic.
While less may have been laid off than with a total shutdown, the economic damage was going to be egregious regardless.
Therefore (with economic damage regardless) at least with a shutdown you save lives and most likely shorten the time to economic recovery as you help precipitate getting the disease under control
I was trying to use the latest layoffs at wind creek as example of how just staying open would not have avoided economic damage as many protestors claimed
see ya guys its been fun for me at least
Quote: heatmap
see ya guys its been fun for me at least
A humorous quip.
Big hullabaloo about nothing.
The reason you have to wear a mask Heatmap is because so many people have dealt with the disease.
You may feel it's a hoax but that's not going to change the mind of the majority who have experience with Covid-19 either personally or through friends and family
