In the eye of the storm (Biloxi Casino Article)
Interesting article about Harrahs..
By Michael Cox/ Townsman Staff
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Between taking phone calls from distressed employees and Gulf Coast legislators and working on plans to secure his Lake Charles Casino in anticipation of Hurricane Rita, Gary Loveman had a chance to take in a few minutes of his daughters’ Wellesley High School soccer games on Friday. But you’ll have to excuse the resident if his mind was elsewhere.
As the largest employer in New Orleans and the second largest in all of Mississippi, these have been busy times for the chief executive officer of Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., a company that now has thousands of displaced workers scattered across the South, two Mississippi casino barges in ruins and a large casino complex in New Orleans facing an uncertain future.
“The facilities in Mississippi were destroyed entirely,” Loveman said of the massive three-story, football-field sized barges in Biloxi and Gulfport washed away by Katrina. “The barge in Biloxi was actually lifted off of its moorings, taken out to sea a couple of times and then it was pushed up and over the road. It landed a quarter-mile from where it had been moored.” The hurricane also took the hotels, entertainment complexes and retails shops that supported the casinos, he said.
During a visit to the region, Loveman saw the damage firsthand.
In New Orleans, where the casino there and an accompanying hotel under construction took only minimal damage, the company is faced with the difficult prospect of trying to reopen the facility without a full complement of employees in a city which will take years to fully recover economically.
Loveman got some more bad news this week when he learned that Rita hit the company’s Lake Charles Casino complex in Louisiana quite hard. Their two riverboats broke away from their barge, which connects them to the land and provides entrance and exit for their customers, and floated over to the shore near its parking garage. Harrah’s will be out of business there for months, he said.
Loveman said despite the major setbacks, Harrah’s is committed to reopening all the facilities.
While he looks toward rebuilding efforts, Loveman said his immediate concern following Katrina was what became of the 8,000 employees who worked in those three facilities affected by Katrina.
Shortly after the storm, Harrah’s posted a relief and recovery hotline, and as of last week they have heard from approximately 80 percent of their employees through that hotline. They have confirmed three fatalities - one in New Orleans and two in Mississippi. Despite a massive media blitz to locate about 1,500 other displaced workers, their whereabouts are still unknown.
“So it’s concerning to us and a little bit puzzling that we still haven’t heard from such a large number of people,” he said.
Harrah’s has also implemented several other key benefits for their employees, he said. Their efforts include:
- Establishing the Harrah’s Employee Recovery Fund with an initial $2 million contribution from the Harrah’s Foundation that will be distributed to affected families on a case-by-case basis.
- Opening the Harrah’s Gulf Coast Region Assistance Center in Gulfport, Miss., to provide displaced employees with immediate assistance, such as on-site health-care services, listings of available shelters and access to e-mail.
- Keeping every affected employee on the payroll for at least 90 days.
- Paying employee health-care premiums.
- Offering expedited job relocation to one of their operating casinos.
- Making up the difference between military pay and regular pay to employees whose National Guard or Reserve units are activated for relief efforts.
- Readying 150 rooms in their Las Vegas-owned hotels to receive evacuees and displaced employees.
- Doubling the company’s normal death benefits to families who have lost loved ones in the hurricane.
“I’m glad we got on it quickly,” said Loveman. “The decision to pay people was made before the storm even hit, and I think we were the first company to state publicly that we would do that, and I think that set a tone that many other companies decided to follow. I’ve heard from hundreds of employees that say [extending their pay for 90 days] has made a very big difference in reducing the uncertainty in their lives during this period … People are very grateful and very pleased.
Loveman’s efforts are also taking place locally. He and his wife, Kathy Welsh, recently completed a fund-raising project that included Wellesley High School students, staff, the Gentle Giant Moving Company and the Wellesley Toy Store. That effort helped displaced families get clothes, toys and books almost immediately.
“It just so happened we have company airplanes flying down there virtually every day. So my wife and group of other people put out notices, and with the help of the high school principal, they gathered a lot of material. They sorted [donated] clothes, toys and books … and within 36 hours, I was able to get the first batch of that into Gulfport and into the hands of families in need,” said Loveman. He added that thanks to a fleet of concerned Wellesley volunteers, soon after, several large trucks filled with supplies also pulled out of Wellesley headed for Biloxi.
Company profile
Las Vegas-based Harrah’s Entertainment (NYSE: HET) owns or manages through various subsidiaries more than 40 casinos in three countries, primarily under the Harrah’s, Caesars and Horseshoe brand names. They have more than 100,000 employees.