SkyCity Group Receives $31 Million in Wage Subsidies

SkyCity Entertainment Group that recently launched an online casino has been given a $9.4 million top up. This takes their government funded wage subsidies to a whopping $31 million.

As per the Work and Income’s website, the company got the extra $9.4m in extensions for 2219 employees.

This amount is on top of the $21.6 million it received when its workforce was 3272 employees. SkyCity Group like many other businesses around the world have been hit hard by the pandemic. As a result they were forced to restructure and rethink their business model to effectively deal with COVID-19.

Here is what the casino group had to say about the recent subsidy “As with so many businesses in New Zealand, the Covid-19 crisis has fundamentally changed the SkyCity business for the foreseeable future. To reflect this, we have right-sized our operations to be a smaller, domestically focused business, as previously disclosed”

“SkyCity has experienced a decline in revenue over the past 40 days of more than 40 per cent,” a statement issued on July 13 said.

“Will apply for the wage subsidy extension to ensure we can sustain our employee base until business returns to previous levels. The application for the wage subsidy extension covers 2219 full-time and part-time employees,” it said.

The subsidy extension by the government provides an eight-week payment per named employee.

In order to qualify for the extension, businesses have had to experience a 40 percent decline in actual revenue over 30 days. This decline must be within 40 days prior to applying for the extension  versus the nearest comparable period last year.