Casino layoffs add to burden on economy

The layoffs announced recently by St. Mary Parish’s two largest casinos affect nearly 400 employees, according to warning notices filed with the Louisiana Workforce Commission, part of a trend statewide and across related economic sectors.
Cypress Bayou Hotel and Casino in Charenton, announced 229 layoffs effective July 1.
Amelia Belle Casino announced another 170 layoffs for the same date.
Casinos, along with schools, indoor church services, bars, barbers and hair salons, and other entities were shut down in March as part of efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19.
When casinos were allowed to reopen, they were subject to capacity limits and social distancing requirements.
The St. Mary casinos weren’t the only ones affected.
Casinos from Shreveport and Bossier City to New Orleans and Lake Charles have filed notice of more than 3,231 layoffs this year.
A case can be made that the larger economic sector, leisure and hospitality, has been hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic.
That category, which includes restaurants, hotels and entertainment venues, employed about 237,000 people in the state in May 2019, according to the Louisiana Workforce Commission.
By April 2020, that total dropped to 130,000. Employment increased by 15,000 in May but is still down by about 91,000 year over year.
The impact on local governments from the St. Mary casinos themselves may be minimal.
Cypress Bayou, operated by the Chitimacha tribal organization, pays no local taxes. But the Chitimacha organization has contributed to infrastructure projects in the Charenton area, noted St. Mary Parish Chief Administrative Officer Henry C. “Bo” LaGrange.
Unlike other casinos, which are taxed based on the number of customers who walk through the doors, Amelia Belle pays a more or less fixed amount to the parish each year, LaGrange said.
The minimum payment is $1.4 million annually, he said, not counting property taxes on buildings associated with the casino. The payment can be as much as $1.6 million, but LaGrange said the parish has received the $1.4 million minimum in each of the last few years.
The real impact may come from the reduced sales and property taxes paid by employees.
St. Mary total nonfarm employment, which peaked near 27,000 before the fall 2014 slump in oil prices, was about 16,000 in May 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Workforce Commission.
The parish’s unemployment rate was 13.9% in May, better than April’s 14.4%. But the May jobless rate was still more than double the May 2019 rate of 5.3%.
“It’s absolutely heartbreaking,” Richard Picard, Cypress Bayou’s director of public relations and advertising, told KLFY-TV. “A lot of those team members are very loyal and dedicated, and we know that. But we really needed to save to ensure that this business can move forward.”