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Reno Casino Closure Spurs Controversy

LAS VEGAS, Nevada –- Park Place Entertainment closed the 23-year-old Flamingo hotel-casino in Reno on Tuesday in anticipation of the property's pending sale, leaving 1,048 people without work during one of the slowest times of year in the Northern Nevada job market.

The closure of the soon-to-be-sold property has sparked a dispute with organizers of Culinary Local 226, who argue that the workers were laid off without long-term severance pay, a claim rejected by a Park Place lawyer.

"I think it's a lack of respect for the community up in Reno," said Culinary research director Courtney Alexander. "Reno has always sort of been a stepchild for the gaming industry."

Park Place officials announced Aug. 23 that the property would close Tuesday, but the company would pay employee wages through Dec. 4 and health benefits through the end of the year.

Federal law requires that any business closing a plant or unit must give workers 60 days notice of a coming closure.

Park Place lawyer Paul Ades argues that the casino company could have closed the Flamingo on Tuesday and not paid the additional wages and health benefits because it gave adequate notification.

"I just don't think it's a fair-minded person who looks at the whole picture and can't say we're not providing notice and severance," Ades said.

But Culinary organizers say Flamingo workers should receive some percentage of their weekly earnings for every year employed, with many having worked at the property for more than a decade.

"That's what sizable companies do for their workers," Alexander said.

Plagued by an aging building and a poor location near the long-closed Comstock and Riverboat casinos, the 604-room gambling property had reported negative cash flow in recent quarters.

Former Las Vegas casino operator Shawn Scott recently agreed to purchase the property for an undisclosed amount of money, although the price tag is believed to be just $6 million. Escrow is expected to be completed on Nov. 5.

The 35-year-old Scott had previously announced his intention to close the Flamingo so it could be remodeled.

Scott was forced to sell the Cheyenne Hotel and Casino in North Las Vegas in 1997 after state gaming regulators declined to renew his gaming license, citing a series of record-keeping problems. He later sold the Cheyenne to MTR Gaming of West Virginia, which renamed the property the Speedway casino.

Scott failed to return a Tuesday phone message seeking comment about his plans for the Flamingo.

Longtime Flamingo bartender Dan Colvin said he was "a little bit upset" by the closure and wished that Park Place would grant a severance package that runs through the winter, which is traditionally the slowest time of year for the Northern Nevada casino market and the toughest period to find work.

"The thing that upsets me is they gave us (60-day notice), but they wouldn't go any farther than what was required," said Colvin, who worked at the Flamingo for 12 years. He faces a seasonal job market that has seen its prospects worsened by the decline in domestic travel that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

But Myla Florence, director of the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, said that with a 3.6 percent estimated unemployment rate in September, the Reno-area job market has opportunities.

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