Caesars Entertainment recently announced that all jobs at its Harrah’s Reno Hotel will be permanently eliminated. The closed property was sold in January this year for $50 million,

Sale of Caesars Assets

VICI Properties is an investment and real estate trust that owns the physical assets of many Caesars casinos. In January, it announced that it is selling the Harrah’s Reno property for $50 million to a Las Vegas based real estate development group called CAI Investments. The company plans to convert the property into a mixed-use space titled the Reno City Center.

Caesars said that all 471 positions at the property will be permanently deleted since the casino floor will be removed and a 930-room hotel will be converted into a residential housing unit. According to the regional president of Caesars Entertainment Brad Bellhouse had notified the employees about it this week.

Both Caesars and VICI decided to sell the property as the operator is eyeing a $17.3 billion acquisition by Eldorado Resorts. The acquiring company already operates three casinos in Reno i.e. Circus Circus, Silver Legacy, and Eldorado Resorts.

A shift from previous statements

When Harrah’s Reno was sold to CAI, Tony Rodio, the president of Caesars said that the workers of the property will be given priority consideration at other properties of the company in Nevada. However, this happened much before the coronavirus pandemic struck and left the Nevada properties shut down for over two months. Many of these properties have reopened this month but they are working with a limited capacity.

The loss of revenue for the properties has been huge and they are only calling back a limited workforce. Reno was last operational on March 17 when Gov. Steve Sisolak ordered a shutdown of businesses in the state. The casino was allowed to start operating from June 4 but Caesars informed earlier this month that the property has been permanently shuttered.

Workers of the Peppermill Resort Hotel were also given notices this week. About 103 workers will no longer be employed with the property on August 1. The longtime shuttering of the business has left the company short of revenue because of which it is cutting jobs to reduce overheads.