SkyCity lays off 200 New Zealand staff following casino closures

Casino operator SkyCity Entertainment Group is laying off hundreds of staff in New Zealand after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of all five of the company’s gaming venues.

On Friday, SkyCity CEO Graeme Stephens issued a statement noting the “unprecedented impact” on the company now that its four properties in New Zealand and its venue in Adelaide, Australia were forced to close their doors to prevent further spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Stephens said the resulting monthly revenue loss will be around NZ$90m (US$53.2m), while the company is still incurring significant monthly costs, including around NZ$20m in labor costs alone.

SkyCity has already stood down “around 90%” of its Australian workforce, and will now make around 200 of its New Zealand salaried staff redundant “with immediate effect.” The company has also asked waged staff to “cut to 80% of normal wages,” a request that, if not agreed to, would force SkyCity to make around 700 more redundancies.