Penn National Gaming recently handed out layoff notices to the 300-plus employees at the Argosy Sioux City riverboat casino, ordered by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission to shut down by July 1. Penn National officials said it was complying with the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification which requires employers with more than 100 employees to provide at least 60 days’ notice of a workplace closing or mass layoff.
However, Penn National spokeswoman Karen Bailey said even though the layoff notices were issued, the company will continue its fight to keep the casino open. “The legal challenges will continue and we remain confident in our legal standing on all matters related to our license,” Bailey said.
On April 16 the IRGC ordered the Argosy to cease operations on or before July 1. The commission said the Argosy’s gaming license lapsed after its former local nonprofit partner, Missouri River Historical Development, refused to renew its partnership in 2012. Penn National has petitioned the IRGC to reconsider its decision and said it will use “every permissible legal avenue to stay the closure order and allow the Argosy to keep operating after July 1,” Argosy General Manager Lance George wrote in a letter to employees. “If the commission’s ruling stands, and our legal efforts fail, the Argosy will permanently close its facility and terminate its entire workforce beginning on July 1, 2014.”
Many Argosy employees have applied or plan to apply for jobs at the new Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City, scheduled to open this summer. Those who stay until the boat closes would be eligible for a severance package as well as a retention bonus of $500 to $2,500, depending on the position.
In Cedar Rapids, officials and residents still are reacting to the IRGC’s decision to deny a gaming license to the $164 million Cedar Crossing Casino, due to market saturation. Not one to take no for an answer, state Senator Wally Horn of Cedar Rapids proposed an amendment that would have required the IRGC to grant a casino license to any city with a population of 50,000 or more. However, the Iowa Senate Democratic leadership said the amendment was “not germane” to the bill that would allow casinos to stop subsidizing greyhound racing.
Among the information the IRGC studied in making its Cedar Rapids decision were reports by Union Gaming Analytics. UGA analyzed the operations of the 18 existing commercial casinos as well as the three Native American casinos in Iowa through various primary and secondary research methodologies.
UGA officials wrote, “Based on our analyses and related cannibalization estimates, we concluded that there are not any underserved counties in the state of Iowa at the present time. As such, our report concluded that the state’s interests are better served by the existing casinos reinvesting in their current operations to maintain and/or improve the condition and competitiveness of their assets without the risk of additional in-state gaming supply that will negatively impact their operations and financial well-being.”
