Mohegan Sun To Lay Off 355

The Mohegan Sun Casino plans to cut 355 jobs as part of a downsizing its top executive said was prompted by declining revenue due to the recession.

Mitchell Etess, Mohegan Sun’s president and CEO, said 120 other workers will be reassigned under the plan he unveiled Tuesday. He said the casino decided to cut jobs after slots revenue fell $39 million in the last year. During the fiscal year that ended in September 2009, Mohegan Sun reported gross slot revenue of about $780 million, which was down nearly 9 percent from the prior year.

“We’ve been patient over the last two years in attempting to reduce our labor force by attrition, waiting for the economy to recover and for our business revenues to increase,” he said Tuesday. “Unfortunately we could no longer take that patient approach.”

Etess said the Mohegan Tribal Council, the governing body that runs the casino, approved the layoffs Monday after weeks of discussions. All affected employees were being notified by Tuesday evening.