Twin River plans layoffs after Encore introduction

TWIN RIVER plan to lay off 100 casino workers due to the impact of Encore Boston Harbor casino on table games in Lincoln. Above, Marc Crisafulli, the newly named president of Rhode Island operations for Twin River Worldwide Holdings. PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
TWIN RIVER plan to lay off 100 casino workers due to the impact of Encore Boston Harbor casino on table games in Lincoln. Above, Marc Crisafulli, the newly named president of Rhode Island operations for Twin River Worldwide Holdings. PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

PROVIDENCE – Twin River Worldwide Holdings Inc. expects to lay off roughly 100 Rhode Island casino workers, the company confirmed Friday.

The company cited a lack of table game business, which it attributed to the arrival of Wynn Resorts Ltd.’s Encore Boston Harbor into the New England market in Everett, Mass. The casino in Massachusetts reported $49 million in gambling revenue in its first full month in July.

The introduction of Encore was said to have impacted Twin River Casino in Lincoln hardest. “We have been forecasting for months the possible negative impact of Encore Boston and now, that impact is upon us and it is material,” said Twin River spokeswoman Patti Doyle.

“To reflect the decreased volume of business at Twin River Casino Hotel to our table games and slot machines, largely due to the recent opening of Encore Casino in Boston, we expect some of our part-time union table games dealers, mostly hired within the last six months, will be impacted,” the company said in a statement. “We have notified union leadership of this likely occurrence. Any dealer impacted by the downturn in business at Twin River in Lincoln will be offered the opportunity to transfer to our Delaware property, Dover Downs, without any loss of seniority.”

- Advertisement -

The layoffs include approximately 30 table game supervisors, with the rest of the layoffs coming from the ranks of the dealers. The supervisors that left were said to have opted for voluntary layoffs.

Twin River reported revenue of $143.2 million in the first quarter, a 29.2% year-over-year increase. The company’s revenue in Rhode Island in the second quarter was $82.9 million.

Profit for the quarter was $17.2 million, a decline from $20.3 million in the second quarter of 2018.

Twin River CEO George Papanier warned that table games were particularly hard hit by Encore.

“The new competition had a greater than expected negative impact on our table games at Lincoln in July 2019, while our slots performance for the same period was in line with expectations given the seasonal weakness that we noted earlier that impacted the second quarter,” Papanier said. “Table games revenues decreased by approximately $3.9 million, or 34%, to $7.6 million when compared to July 2018, while our slots NTI decreased approximately $6.4 million, or 17%, to $32.2 million compared to July 2018.”

Paapanier said that Encore has not impacted its Tiverton property, Twin River Casino Hotel.

“We are revising our expectations for combined operating income to be lower by approximately 10% from those expectation levels,” he said.

Doyle said that the company has increased in size significantly over the years.

“As a company that has grown from 1,000 employees to nearly 2,500 in Rhode Island alone in seven short years, we value all of our employees,” Doyle said. “We are hopeful the post-Labor Day trend of increased customer traffic will afford us with the opportunity to re-hire some of our impacted employees.”

The company acquired Dover Downs in Delaware, has a pending acquisition of three Colorado properties and has entered into an agreement to purchase two casinos in Mississippi and Missouri. The company already owns casinos in Mississippi and Colorado.

Twin River recently moved its headquarters from Lincoln to Providence.

Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor. You may reach him at Bergenheim@PBN.com.

No posts to display