Princess Casinos in Free Zone lay off 81 workers


Eighty-one employees of the Princess casinos at the Corozal
Free Zone are out of a job tonight. A release from the
company cites, (quote) "a dramatic increase in the costs of
doing business," as the primary reason for the lay offs,
referring specifically to higher utility bills, an increase
in casino license fees and business tax. Another major
contributor is declining revenues occasioned by the
legalisation of slot machine arcades in Mexico, the source
of most of the casinos' clientele. As part of its
reorganisation plans the Princess Casino will close its
table games and operate only with slot machines, while the
nearby Golden Princess will maintain the full array of
gambling choices. And while Princess is contracting, a new
entrant to the industry, the Las Vegas Casino will be
opening its doors before the end of the month. The
fifty-five thousand square foot facility will initially
employ around two hundred and fifty people.

It was a shame that the princess' casino took the actions they did. A large percentage of the people they laid off had numerous years experience within the company. Fortuneately for the laid off workers and for us here at the Las Vegas Hotel & Casino we were able to immediately employ roughly half of the employees princess terminated.

Sonds like a win win ,no pun intended !!put people to work is just wondeful...

Most definetely. Also, the first phase(175 rooms)of the hotel breaks ground next month with a completion date in mid 2007. Once complete, that will employee another 200-400 employees. That will be a significant boost to the local economy and bring much needed tourist dollars.

I was a little confused about this one, as Channel 7 also mentions "Eighty persons are jobless tonight after they were fired from the Princess Hotel and Casino in Belize City": http://www.7newsbelize.com/archive/08040603.html

Thought they were talking about the same 80 persons, but Channel 5 gave me the answer:
The article that Marty quotes on August 2: http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=16748
And then the Belize City Princess employees on August 4:
http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=16766
So it's a total of 180 employees....
I'll quote that last article below here:

Princess hotel lays-off 100 workers in Belize City

On Wednesday, the Princess Hotel and Casino Belize announced it was cutting eight-one jobs at the Corozal Free Zone, but tonight the company says it has also decided to lay-off a hundred workers from its operations in the old capital. The break down is fifty workers from the casino and fifty others from the hotel. As in its previous release, the company cites a dramatic increase in cost of doing business, casino license fees and business tax. The restructuring will also include new opening hours at the casino which will now operate between twelve noon and four a.m. every day.

I am unaware of any of the lay-offs in Belize city, but I know first hand they laid off 81 employees between their two casinos here in the free zone.

Caution: when you get rolling and doing well, GOB will hunger for your cash flow and start juggling your taxes.

Amen,To that!