SkyCity gets $9.4m in further wage subsidies

Wednesday 22nd of July 2020

New Zealand’s SkyCity Entertainment Group has received a further $9.4 million (US$6.2 million) in wage subsidies to support employment during Covid-19, taking its total to $31 million.

Work and Income’s website says the company got $21.6 million when its workforce was 3,272 employees and has not received a further $9.4 million for its 2,219 workers. The company has downsized due to the impact of the crisis.

The operator said in an email that its core domestic gaming business was doing relatively well, but the “employee-heavy areas of hotels, food and beverage, had been slower to pick up.

"As with so many businesses in New Zealand, the COVID-19 crisis has fundamentally changed the SkyCity business for the foreseeable future. To reflect this, we have right-sized our operations to be a smaller, domestically focussed business, as previously disclosed."

SkyCity has experienced a decline in revenue over the past forty days of more than 40 percent and we have applied for the wage subsidy extension to ensure we can sustain our employee base until business returns to previous levels. The wage subsidy extension covers 2,219 full time and part time employees.

The wage subsidy extension provides an eight-week payment per named employee.

SkyCity, which operates casinos in New Zealand and Australia, was one of the first in the Asia Pacific region to reopen, after Macau.