The company that runs Boomtown Casino in Harvey is warning of 197 looming job cuts slated for Aug. 15, according to a filing with the Louisiana Workforce Commission, the latest in a string of mass layoffs at casinos across the state as the gaming industry struggles to cope with the coronavirus pandemic.

Casinos in Louisiana were shuttered for nearly two months by emergency orders aimed at stemming the spread of the coronavirus but were allowed to reopen at limited capacity in mid-May.

The Boomtown job cuts were announced in a legally required WARN notice filed with the state. The federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act mandates that all but the smallest companies give state officials and workers 60-day notice of plant closures or mass layoffs.

WARN notices indicate the company doesn't believe the employees will be rehired anytime in the next six months.

+6

You pays your money and you takes your chances once again for New Orleans area gamblers, as casinos outside of Orleans Parish got back to busi…

Boomtown was one of four Louisiana casinos managed by Penn National Gaming that the Pennsylvania-based company said will have layoffs in August. The L'Auberge casino plans to cut 602 jobs between its facilities in Baton Rouge and Lake Charles, while the Margaritaville Resort Casino in Bossier City plans to cut 347 jobs.

Boomtown said Sunday that it had furloughed 26,000 employees across all its properties in April with the hopes of being able to bring them back in a couple of months, but the last several weeks of having some casinos open on a limited basis has made it clear business will not be back to anything approaching normal anytime soon.

"After thoroughly reevaluating our business in light of the ongoing pandemic, we wanted to communicate honestly and openly with our team members that it could be some time before all of our remaining properties are open, and that those properties that are open will unfortunately not require the same level of staffing due to limitations and restrictions placed on occupancy and offerings to create a safer environment," said Eric Schippers, Penn's senior vice president of public affairs and government relations.

Schippers added that the company may not necessarily be laying off the full number it reported to the state.

Sunday's news follows an announcement last month that Treasure Chest Casino in Kenner would laid off 340 people, cuts that went into effect Wednesday.

By mid-August, a total of nearly 4,000 casino workers in Louisiana will have lost their jobs since the coronavirus pandemic struck in March, according to public filings with the Louisiana Workforce Commission. At least one Louisiana casino — the Diamond Jacks riverboat in Bossier City — has announced plans to permanently close during the pandemic.

Casino winnings in the New Orleans gambling market were down 60.8% in March from a year ago, as mid-month closures of the state’s gambling hal…

The shutdown and limited reopenings cratered gambling revenue in Louisiana. According to the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, which oversees the industry, the state's 14 remaining riverboat casinos brought in just $60 million in revenue during the month of May — compared with $157 million in May 2019.

At Boomtown, revenue for May plunged more than 60% compared with the year before. June revenue figures have not yet been released.

Revenue from video poker machines, meanwhile, suffered a similar collapse, according to Louisiana Gaming Control Board figures, dropping by 56% in May compared with the same month in 2019.

A number of large upscale chain hotels in New Orleans — where the city's outsized tourism industry has been decimated by the sudden halt in travel beginning in March — previously announced mass layoffs there.

The Louisiana Workforce Commission published on Wednesday more than a dozen notices from New Orleans-area hotels warning that thousands of fur…

+2

Things were looking good for Sammie “Big Sam” Williams as he looked at the year ahead in February. The veteran horn player had a standing week…