Last week, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves announced that casinos in the state could resume operations this Thursday, May 24, after more than two months on lockdown.
Mississippi casinos closed March 16 due to the Covid-19 outbreak. During the shutdown, Reeves said he was more interested in “getting it right than to get it done quickly”; for now, properties may offer both slots and table games, but can operate at no more than 50 percent capacity, and all equipment must be regularly cleaned and sanitized.
The reopening was welcome news for Luann Pappas, president of Scarlet Pearl Casino in D’Iberville, on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. Though the property has been closed for almost 10 weeks, Pappas has been anything but idle. She’s spent a big part of each day conferring with policymakers, holding virtual meetings with management and 1,000 rank-and-file employees, and strategizing about how to reopen.
“They use the word ‘unprecedented,’ and I can underscore that,” Pappas told GGB News. “You’ve furloughed every one of your employees, you have a skeleton crew to work with, yet you have to execute all the big things that have to be to reopen.” She even oversaw the development of social distancing panels for use on the casino floor, all designed and constructed in-house.
“We had a lot of vendors come forward who could build those Plexiglas panels, but they were six, eight or 12 weeks away from being able to do it in volume,” Pappas said. “So we did the research, bought the supplies at local stores, built a prototype and had it approved. We built our own. We built them for every table game and every slot machine.”
She also seized an opportunity to bring back dozens of the casino’s furloughed employees to help process a backlog of state unemployment claims. Through channels, she made the offer to the governor’s office, pointing out that all employees had undergone background checks, and the casino had a compatible accounting system. In less than three days, about 80 casinos employees were in training and a week later, they were manning the phones, taking unemployment calls seven days a week. Scarlet Pearl was the first private business in Mississippi to help in this way, and the emotional toll on call center workers could be significant, Pappas said.
“The average time to make a reservation is a minute and 26 seconds—we have it down to a science. The average unemployment call was 37 minutes. Callers wanted to share their stories, and they could be gut-wrenching. A couple of our people started to cry and had to walk away. It brings a tear to my eye just talking about it.”
All employees at the Grenier-family owned resort received full pay until April 15, and health benefits have continued. As the countdown to reopening continues, Pappas said, the workers are eager to return, even in limited numbers. “A very few are apprehensive; the rest are very excited.” Pappas has urged those with preexisting conditions and anyone over 65 to stay home for now. “I told them, ‘We will continue to pay your benefits. Do not come into the casino.’”
Though Scarlet Pearl cannot welcome back more than half its guests, Pappas said she may bring back up to 80 percent of the workforce. “But I want to be slow and methodical. The reality is that the $600 (weekly stimulus payment) from the federal government and $352 from state unemployment may add up to more than a housekeeper or environmental person would make on the job. I don’t want to bring them back if the volume isn’t there. We have to take it slow. We gave them our word we wouldn’t lay them off.”
Throughout the shutdown, Pappas said, Scarlet Pearl has kept in touch with its customers. “Shockingly—amazingly to us—very few are saying, ‘I’m not comfortable to come back.’”
The doors will open at 6 a.m. Thursday, but unfortunately, there will be no grand reopening, as large group gatherings are prohibited. As for facemasks, Pappas noted, “We can hand customers a mask, but can’t enforce them wearing it. But I’m mandating masks for employees, along with gloves and temperature checks.”
Asked how she feels on the eve of reopening, Pappas said, “I’m exhausted. And very excited.”
She said she expects regional markets like Mississippi’s Gulf Coast to come out of this crisis rather quickly, and agrees with Larry Gregory, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission, who said, “This hasn’t been our first rodeo in terms of closures due to disaster. We’ve dealt with the BP oil spill, Mississippi River flooding, and the most memorable, Hurricane Katrina.”
“Mississippians are resilient,” Pappas said. “We’re coming back from this.”
