The number of employees at Pennsylvania casinos collapsed by 38.9% to 9,883 as of 30 June, 2020, despite all but one casino in the state having reopened after the impact of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, according to the state’s 2019/20 casino diversity report.
The decline in employees was largely down to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and included many temporary layoffs, with Rivers Casino Philadelphia – which employed more than 1,500 before the pandemic – listing no employees whatsoever as it had not yet reopened on 30 June. It went on to reopen with a staff of 813.
Of the 9,883 employees at the state’s casinos, 5,664 were male, down 40.3%, while 4,219 were female, down 41.7%.
Among executive and management positions, just 36% of employees were women and 21% minorities.
Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino and Racetrack was the only location which employed more women than men, while Lady Luck Casino Nemacolin was the only other casino in the state in which there were 90% as many female employees as male.
Of the $463.1m operators paid to non-construction service providers, up 2.3%, $182.1m went to locally owned businesses, down 9.4%. However, $41.7m went to minority or women-owned businesses, up 24.5%.
Operators paid an additional $272.8m to construction suppliers in 2019/20, up 146.2%. Of this total, $158.7m went to locally owned businesses, up 147.2%, while the value of contracts that went to minority or women-owned businesses increased almost eight-fold to $88.0m.
Lady Luck Casino Nemacolin paid the most to non-construction suppliers, at $79.5m. Of this total, $37.0m went to local suppliers and $3.0m to minority or women-owned suppliers.
It paid a further $7.0m to construction suppliers – $6.2m to local businesses and $2.3m to those owned by women or minorities.
Parx Casino followed, paying $74.3m to non-construction suppliers. Of this total, $30.6m was paid to local businesses and $2.4m to those owned by minorities or women.
Harrah’s Philadelphia also had the largest percentage of its supplier contracts go to women or minority owned businesses, with £2.0m of its $8.9m total going to these suppliers. In addition, $3.0m went to local suppliers.
Rivers Casino Pittsburgh and Wind Creek Bethlehem were the only operators which spend more than half of its non-construction supplier expenses on local businesses. Of Rivers Casino Pittsburgh’s $39.9m total, $21.3m went to local suppliers and $5.3m to those that were women or minority-owned. At Wind Creek, $35.3m of its $66.6m spend went to local suppliers.
Meanwhile, of the Meadows Racetrack and Casino’s $33.5m in non-construction supplier contracts, just $4.3m went to local businesses and $222,121 to businesses owned by women or minorities.
The report also found that the percentage of Pennsylvania casino employees who were minorities had declined slightly, as the percentage of African-Americans dropped from 15% to 13%, while the rate of Hispanic and Asian employees stayed level at 8% and 13% respectively. The percentage of employees who were Caucasian grew from 62% to 64% while the percentage from other races declined from 3% to 2%.
Harrah’s Philadelphia and Valley Forge Casino Resort were the only locations where the majority of employees were not caucasian.
Charitable donations from operators declined by 7.8% to $13.1m. The vast majority of this came from Parx Casino, which donated $10.4m, down 0.2%.
Rivers Casino Philadelphia donated the next-most at $1.2m, but this was down 7.4% year-on-year. Wild Creek Casino Bethlehem followed with $418,786, up 62.7%.