SCHENECTADY — Tom McOwen thought his ship had come in when the Rivers Casino opened more than two years ago.
The Utica-area native had been working at a casino in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., but jumped at the chance to return to upstate New York, where he has children from a prior marriage.
A 20-year veteran of the industry, McOwen, 40, quickly worked his way up to the position of Table Games Manager at Rivers and things were humming along just fine.
He had a used Cadillac, bought a house in the city and took his kids on annual trips to places like Disney World.
But that’s all on hold as Rivers and New York’s four other state-licensed casinos remained closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since going dark in March, about 1,000 Rivers employees and more than 5,000 casino workers statewide remain idled and they are running out of funds.
That’s been especially true since late July when the federal government’s $600 weekly supplements to state unemployment insurance payments ran out.
Now with that gone, McOwen, 40, and others are juggling their bills.
This year, McOwen said, there’s no Florida trip. And dining on occasional steaks has given way to bulk shopping for basics like hamburger meat and potatoes as well as peanut butter and jelly.
“We’re just buying the essentials,” he said.
Credit card bills are piling up and McOwen is worrying about his $1,500 mortgage payments. The bank deferred some payments for a while, but not any longer and any arrears will have to eventually be paid.
He’s got one daughter planning to attend Mohawk Valley Community College and his former wife has only recently gone back to work as a food server in the Utica area.
LaChelle Rick and her husband Jimmy have decimated their 401(k) and they are both considering casino jobs in other states where the facilities have reopened.
Rick, a Kentucky native, and her husband both have more than 25 years in the casino business. They’ve worked in West Virginia, Illinois, Indiana and in Erie, Pa., which like Schenectady, used to have a vast General Electric workforce but which has looked to gaming as a new source of middle class jobs such as these that can pay from $50,000 to $85,000 or more.
A table games manager, Rick 49, and her husband like this area but wonder how long they can hold out. The landlord at their apartment complex in Scotia has been understanding but they know that can’t last forever.
“We want to work,” she said.
McOwen and Rick were among the several dozen Rivers employees who stood outside the darkened casino in a torrential rain Thursday hoping to exert some pressure on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to allow the casinos to reopen, or at least offer some clear guidance as to when that might happen.
So far, casinos in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island and Massachusetts have reopened. And according to the American Gaming Association trade group, 866 casinos nationally are reopened compared to 124 that remain closed.
The management of Rivers has chipped in, saying on Friday the casino’s executive team will be passing out “care packages” to all furloughed team members between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
That will include fresh produce, household supplies like laundry detergent and gift cards to local businesses so they can purchases essential items.
Team members will just need to drive into Valet Parking at Rivers to pick the packages up.
Thursday’s demonstration marked the second time in a week that casino workers have rallied for a reopening.
They held a similar gathering last Thursday in front of the state Capitol. And this Thursday’s event was replicated at all five of New York’s state-licensed casinos (those on Indian lands had already re-opened).
It remains unclear when New York’s casinos may get the green light to reopen.
State Budget Division spokesman Freeman Klopott in an email noted that other states are rolling back some reopening plans as COVID spreads.
“We’ve already seen casinos in California, Arizona and Miami re-open and then close due to COVID.” Klopott said.
“In New York, we will continue to track the data, the science and activity at casinos around the country, and will make a decision on re-opening them here when health experts determine it is safe to do so.”
McOwen said his hopes were buoyed in June when the regional phased reopenings for other businesses were starting.
He even came into Rivers to help with the planning and to move gaming tables around so they would be socially distanced.
But then came news that casinos were not in the reopening plans, so the employees went home. So now, he waits and pores over his weekly expenses, hoping to see a reopening sooner rather than later. “We’re waiting for the word,” he said.
rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU
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