The estate of MGM Resorts International founder Kirk Kerkorian donated $2 million to a foundation the company established to employees impacted economically by the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement Wednesday, the company said the MGM Resorts Foundation’s Employee Emergency Grant Fund has donated more than $11 million to employees and immediate families with short-term assistance and relief.
The company furloughed more than 63,000 workers in March after closing its entire portfolio of more than two dozen gaming and nongaming properties in six states due to COVID-19. MGM has since reopened all but three properties – Park MGM and The Mirage in Las Vegas and Empire City Casino in New York. Because of COVID-19 protocols that limit occupancy and various gaming and non-gaming venues, the company has instituted layoffs for an undisclosed number of positions.
MGM said the foundation was designed to help qualified MGM employees and their families during unexpected hardships and emergencies.
“We are so grateful to Mr. Kerkorian’s estate for their generous contribution, which will greatly help our employees and their families during this unprecedented time,” MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle said. “This additional funding will enable the Foundation to continue to help many more employees in the coming weeks.”
The fund provides disaster relief assistance to furloughed or laid-off employees whose compensation is suspended or employment terminated as a result of an extraordinary event (or events) that severely impacts a community in which MGM Resorts conducts business, such as the COVID-19 public health crisis.
Examples of relief payments include rent or mortgage assistance, utility bills, medical and funeral expenses.
Kerkorian, who died in 2015 at the age of 98, was considered one of the founders of modern Las Vegas whose name was synonymous with some of the Strip’s best-known hotel-casinos. Three times he built and opened what was then the world’s largest hotel-casinos — the International (now the Westgate Las Vegas) in 1969, the original MGM Grand (now Bally’s Las Vegas) in 1973 and the current MGM Grand Las Vegas in 1993.
“As the founder of MGM Resorts International, Mr. Kerkorian attributed much of his success to the employees at MGM,” said a representative from his estate. “We know that he would have wanted them to know how much he cared for them and their families and would do what he could to help those affected by the devastating impact of this pandemic.”
Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming Reports. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgaming.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.
