American land-based and international interactive gambling firm, Bally’s Corp. plans to cut its interactive workforce in North America by 15% in order to bolster its total operational outlook.
The cuts are expected to cost the company between $10m and $15m in severance pay, according to the restructuring plan for the interactive division filed with the US SEC on January 18. Decisions on the elimination of positions are subject to the company’s business needs as well as local laws and consultation in certain countries. See the Pdf file (here).
The costs of severing the positions are expected to be incurred in the first quarter of this year with the positions being eliminated in the coming weeks.
A letter to employees from Lee Fenton, the company’s Chief Executive was included with the SEC filing addressed to Team Bally’s Interactive, and stated in part: “2023 brings with it many opportunities to continue to drive our business forwards. We have an amazing company with a strong and resilient business model, which puts us in a great place to do well in the toughest of conditions. However, we always need to be acutely aware of the macroeconomic conditions and adjust accordingly to come through what is a challenging environment in the best possible shape. Companies who take tough but decisive steps to effectively manage costs will be stronger and fitter for the future. I am committed to ensuring that Bally’s is one of those that is best placed to flourish in the long term.
“With this in mind, we’ve made the difficult decision to reduce our Interactive employees and contractor workforce by up to 15%, over the coming weeks,” read the opening statement.
An Iconic Name in American Gambling
Bally’s is an iconic name in American gaming but the current concern is actually a transitioned entity formerly known as Twin River Worldwide Holdings – a company with two small VLT casinos in the nation’s smallest state, Rhode Island.
Through a series of smart moves, branding brilliance, as well as mergers and acquisitions the company now owns and manages 15 casinos in 10 states, a horse racetrack in Colorado, and has access to Online Sports Betting licenses in 18 states. While once seen as a potential contender for one of the new Las Vegas Style casino licenses coming to downstate New York, the company did not enter the RFA process, perhaps because it has its hands full in the country’s 3rd largest city, where it got the go-ahead for Chicago’s first and only casino in 2022.
Bally’s Interactive International took on a rebrand after the company purchased the UK’s Gamesys Group. North American Interactive is often seen as a separate division. Bally’s also owns the Bally Bet sports betting platform, Monkey Knife Fight, a fast-growing daily fantasy sports site in North America, and Live at The Bike, the world’s largest running poker live stream.
Other metrics include SportCaller, a global B2B free-to-play game provider, and Telescope Inc., a provider of “participation TV” and mobile marketing solutions transmitted over fixed lines, SMS, and the Internet.
Parent Company Employs Over 10,000
The company employs about 10,500 people globally and its land-based casinos operate about 15,000 slot machines, 500 gaming tables, and offer 5,300 hotel rooms.
CEO Fenton commented further: “We have been considering how we re-scope our road maps to ensure they are right-sized,” said Fenton. “This is an opportunity to reset the business, so let’s ensure that these changes, whilst made with an extremely heavy heart, put us on an even stronger footing, where we can operate with pace, agility and focus. I truly believe we will emerge stronger in many ways; we would not be pursuing this unless this was our belief.”
In May 2022 the company reported revenues of $253m for the international interactive division (Gamesys) and $15.2m for the North America Interactive division.
At that time, Fenton said: “International Interactive revenue was down 1% year over year on a constant currency basis due to tightened consumer spending in the UK that was offset by solid performance by our Asia business. North America Interactive continued to invest in the rollout plan that accelerated this month with the launch of our foundational 2.0 tech stack in Arizona yesterday.”
However, in November Fenton said: “We pulled together a fairly large number of assets in a small space of time, we’ve now had 12 months of looking at that and knitting that picture together. The assets that are not showing us a near-term path to profitability will of course be under the microscope, as they should be,” said Fenton.
Source: Gaming Biz Bally’s trimming jobs by 15% to increase profits, Law360, January 19, 2023