Tropicana lays off 50 supervisors

In 2007, no Atlantic City casino laid off more workers than the Tropicana. The former owners slashed nearly 1,000 jobs, but the resulting problems with cleanliness and service led to the loss of their casino license.

Since then, interim management has tried to rebuild the staff, bringing back at least 150 of the workers who had been let go in 2007.

The latest layoffs were "due to the economic issues we are currently facing as a city and country," spokeswoman Diane Spiers said Friday.

The jobs eliminated by the Tropicana were designed not to hurt the casino's most important initiative: improving its interaction with customers and winning back players.

"These layoffs will not impact any customer service," Spiers said.

The Tropicana is not alone in its struggles. Revenues at all 11 casinos are down 6.6 percent so far this year; the Tropicana is off 11 percent.

In terms of gross operating profit, a widely used gauge of profitability in the casino industry, the Tropicana is down nearly 50 percent for the first nine months of this year, compared with nearly 20 percent for Atlantic City as a whole.

In terms of staffing, the Tropicana has about the same number of employees as it had at the beginning of the year, at approximately 3,540.

Other casinos have made far deeper job cuts. Earlier this month, the Borgata laid off 400 workers across the board, also citing the worsening economy.