It is official the Stardust Casino and Resort in Las Vegas will be closing on November 1 of this year. The early warning was given due to the requirements imposed by the 1989 WARN Act, which states that employers are required to give at least sixty days notice of a large-scale layoff. However, Boyd Gaming (who owns the Stardust Casino) had actually made the closing "unofficially" known earlier this year and went above and beyond the legal requirements governing the upcoming layoffs. Unlike many other casinos who have abruptly gone under - leaving their employees stranded without jobs or severance packages - Boyd Gaming is being praised for "making good by their employees".

The closing date of the casino was officially made known through memo signed by CEO, Bill Boyd, in which all of the employees were commended for making the Stardust Resort one of the best gambling properties in Las Vegas for forty-eight years. Boyd said the decision to close down shop was a very difficult one to make, but that it would benefit the company and the gambling industry as a whole in the long run. With over 1,600 employees seeking jobs elsewhere, the closing of the Stardust is the largest layoff of a Strip casino in over a decade.

With the news first being announced in January of this year, the closing process has been an extraordinarily smooth transition compared to other casino shutdowns. In fact, industry professionals have nothing but good things to say about how Boyd Gaming has handled things, citing that it will serve as the model for imminent company consolidations and new properties. The Chief Human Resources Director of Wynn Resorts, Arte Nathan, praised Boyd for its well-planned model, referring to past layoffs in which casino operators did the best they could to help employees, but often fell short on keeping good employee relations, which was precisely the aim of Boyd Gaming.

Not only was Boyd successful at transferring a large number of employees to some of their other gaming properties, including the Coast Casinos chain, they implemented a training program to help employees acquire necessary skills for new positions elsewhere. And of those employees who did not take transfers and were willing to stay with Stardust until the very last day, they were given severance packages ranging from $1,000 to $10,000. Doing so not only insured a good relationship with their workers, but also kept Stardust from abruptly having no choice but to close, which has been a sacrifice for Boyd - but a sacrifice that will not go unnoticed.

Boyd was originally planning to shut down at the very end of the year to make room for their proposed Echelon Place (a community of hotel resorts and convention space), but had to up the date just a bit due to employees leaving early - most of which Boyd was willingly relocating to other properties for the employees benefit. The severance packages and overall good will and treatment Boyd Gaming has bestowed on their employees has made the shutdown of the Stardust Casino ironically not seem like a "shutdown" at all.