Twin River’s Lincoln Casino Could Lay Off Staff due to Impact of Boston Casino

15/08/2019 | Categories: Casino | Published by: Tony

Twin River Casino in Lincoln said that it could be forced to shed a number of workers due to the poorer performance of its table games in recent weeks.

The property, which is owned by gaming and hospitality operator Twin River Worldwide Holdings, is one of Rhode Island’s two operational casinos, the other being Twin River Casino in Tiverton.

A spokeswoman for the Lincoln venue said earlier this week that up to 30 table games supervisors could be sacked as a result from the property’s failure to perform according to expectations. Ms. Doyle went on to explain that they are “effectively staffing to the present volume of business on the table games.”

The property’s spokeswoman also revealed that they are exploring voluntary reduction of hours in a bid to prevent massive layoffs. Hopes are that business will pick up after the upcoming Labor Day weekend and that they will be able to re-employ some of the sacked workers.

The announcement about Twin River looking to reduce staff at its Lincoln property come shortly after the company released its financial report for the second quarter of the year. The casino operator said that table games at the casino performed worse than originally expected, while the performance of its slot machines was in line with projections.

In July, revenue from table games at the property recorded a 34% annual drop to $7.6 million, while slot machines NTI decreased 17% year-on-year to $32.2 million.

Twin River attributed slowing business at its Lincoln property to the recent launch of the $2.6 billion Encore Boston Harbor integrated resort in neighboring Massachusetts. The Wynn Resorts-operated mega complex was launched in late June to great fanfare and recorded $16.8 million in revenue during its first week of operation. Numbers showing how the property performed in its first full month are due this week.

Lack of Impact at Tiverton

Twin River’s other casino in Rhode Island was not impacted by the newcomer in New England’s casino market, the company said in its latest quarterly report. The Tiverton casino itself opened doors not long ago.

The operator launched the property last fall by transferring its existing Newport Grand license to Tiverton. The Newport Grand facility was closed.

Twin River said in its quarterly report that they were pleased with the lack of impact they have experienced at Tiverton “where gaming volumes in July were relatively flat to our recent monthly run-rate, which we view as a positive.”

The company added that when they planned the opening of that second property, “the expectation was for it to offset the impact of new competition so that operating income in the market would be flat to Lincoln alone.”

The recent performance of their Lincoln property has forced the company to revise its expectations for combined operating income to be 10% lower from the initial expectation levels.

Twin River’s two casinos in Rhode Island are currently the only properties in the New England region to offer sports betting. Both casinos debuted their sportsbooks late last year, hoping that wagering would offset the growing competition in the region.

Legal sports betting generated $6.9 million by the end of the 2018-19 fiscal year, which translates to roughly $3.5 million in revenue for the state. Under Rhode Island law, the state collects 51% of the wagering revenue generated at the two sportsbook.

The state’s take was well below the $23.5 million prediction made by Gov. Gina Raimondo’s administration last year as well as the $11.5 million estimate made this past January. Yet, it exceeded the $2.2 million state lawmakers included in the revised budged for the last fiscal year that was passed in June.

Rhode Island is set to go live with mobile betting at the end of the summer and lawmakers expect digital wagering to bring $22.7 million for the state by the end of the current fiscal year.

However, Rhode Island faces huge competition from New York, where casinos have begun rolling out sports betting products to tap into the US sports gambling space.

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The post Twin River’s Lincoln Casino Could Lay Off Staff due to Impact of Boston Casino appeared first on Casino News Daily.

Original source: https://www.casinonewsdaily.com/2019/08/14/twin-rivers-lincoln-casino-could-lay-off-staff-due-to-impact-of-boston-casino/