Potawatomi Hotel & Casino has permanently laid off more than 1,000 employees who were on a temporary furlough.
The casino said there were approximately 2,600 employees prior to the pandemic shut down. In June, 1,000 employees were brought back for the casino's reopening. The rest of the staff received notice on Friday of the layoff.
"The coronavirus pandemic has forced Potawatomi Hotel & Casino to scale down operations substantially and place a cap on guest traffic to a fraction of normal levels," said CEO and General Manager Rodney Ferguson in a statement. "As a result, we have recently made the difficult decision to notify a large number of our staff on a temporary furlough that we consider the furlough to be permanent because of its unforeseeable length and impact."
The layoff goes into effect on Aug. 15.
The casino said expanded operations will be guided by science and pandemic conditions.
