Encore Boston Harbor Casino | 1 Broadway | Everett

“Wynn Resorts hints at future development by Everett casino”
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To go along with the pictures I posted up thread.

“We are talking to various potential partners because I think joint ventures could really work on that 11 acres for additional hotels . . . and other entertainment offerings,” he said on a quarterly earnings call.


“We’ve been approached by people that would like to think about putting an arena there for various events,” Maddox said. “We’ve been approached by people that like to do the outdoor districts that have lots of various entertainment aspects, but on a more boutique level.”

Globe link
 
August Gaming Revenue Report is in; brought in $4M more than July. The 1.5x ratio of money coming in for table games to slots is eye-poppingly high. No Vegas casino sees that ratio of table games to slots.

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Being a total outsider/ rookie to the casino business, could you help me interpret what the 1.5 x ratio means?

Does it mean that Boston's gamblers are control freaks and like to put their hands directly on "the thing" they are betting on? -- could it be interpreted as meaning that bostonians think they can beat the system by involving themselves in the process? (Is it fair to interpret the slots as "passive gaming" versus the tables as "active gaming"?)

Has the entire MIT card counting community descended upon Encore? How long before they are profiled and kicked out (of the Blackjack)

Does the casino care what the ratio of table games to slots is? Is some ratio economically ideal for the House?

Is it possible to say how Boston compares to other Massachusetts or Connecticut gaming?
 
Arlington said:
Being a total outsider/ rookie to the casino business, could you help me interpret what the 1.5 x ratio means?

Does it mean that Boston's gamblers are control freaks and like to put their hands directly on "the thing" they are betting on? -- could it be interpreted as meaning that bostonians think they can beat the system by involving themselves in the process? (Is it fair to interpret the slots as "passive gaming" versus the tables as "active gaming"?)

Has the entire MIT card counting community descended upon Encore? How long before they are profiled and kicked out (of the Blackjack)

Does the casino care what the ratio of table games to slots is? Is some ratio economically ideal for the House?

Is it possible to say how Boston compares to other Massachusetts or Connecticut gaming?
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The Mass Gaming Commission collects and publishes revenue information for each gaming license holder because the Commonwealth collects a 25% tax on revenue from casinos (MGM & Encore), and 49% on revenue from the slot parlor (Plainridge).

If you look at the chart from the Mass Gaming Commission, you can see MGM Springfield makes nearly 3x as much revenue from slot machines as it does from table games ($15.6M vs. $5.3M in August '19). That is similar to what you might expect or see on a similar revenue report for casinos in Las Vegas--most casinos make roughly 2x as much from slot machines as they do from table games. Encore Boston Harbor is the inverse of that pattern.

It can mean a handful of things, and frankly I think would make for a great college-level research paper (if not a Globe investigation). Encore Boston Harbor not only has a disproportionately high number of table games popular with Asians (Pai Gow, Baccarat), but also is located in an urban location with a high number of well-heeled Asian-Americans and visitors--could that have something to do with the higher revenue? Table minimums for games like Craps, Blackjack, and Roulette are routinely much higher than minimums at other casinos (like $50+ and even $100+ at the cheapest Craps table on a Saturday night)--could that be responsible for the higher table game revenue? Encore's Red Card Rewards Program gave away a lot of freeplay and free credit to Red Card holders the first couple months the casino was open--did that deflate the slot revenue for both months?

Despite the high number of slot machines (3,100+) that are at the casino, there are a lot of redundancies of machines, and I would argue a lack of diversity compared to what you would find in Connecticut and Las Vegas (Better Off Ed? King of Dragons III? GOLD GOLD GOLD? Platinum Jackpots? Nowhere). I wonder if the slots revenue is underwhelming compared to table games because the games available lack the flavor of what gamblers may be use to? It's weird to suggest, especially because the casino has been making $20M+/month from slot machines.

Boston area objectively has the most highly-educated residents of any region in the country with a major casino... maybe there's a correlation with higher-degree wielding persons spending money at table games vs. who you might find at slot machines. I don't know. Again, I think it would be a fun research project.
 
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dshoost88 said:
Boston area objectively has the most highly-educated residents of any region in the country with a major casino... maybe there's a correlation with higher-degree wielding persons spending money at table games vs. who you might find at slot machines. I don't know. Again, I think it would be a fun research project.
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I think this is essentially it. We have a higher percentage of smart, high earning patrons available, they are more drawn to table games than slots.
 
I think age is also a factor. "Younger" casino gamblers (which, in casino terms, could even mean people in their 40s and early 50's) are generally more interested in table games than they are slots. I would bet it is even higher when comparing men and women. The stereotypical slot player is of course a 60 year old+ woman. Probably fewer of those at the Encore than most casinos.
 
Actually by some counts the DC-MD area has #1 highest % with advanced degrees* (BOS is #2). I wonder if the casino at National Harbor has similar skew to table games?

* If/because/when you count Lawyers and the Fed govt has a lot of scientists at NASA/Agriculture/NSA & DOD contractors, JHU & UMd
 
dshoost88 said:
Encore Boston Harbor not only has a disproportionately high number of table games popular with Asians (Pai Gow, Baccarat), but also is located in an urban location with a high number of well-heeled Asian-Americans and visitors--could that have something to do with the higher revenue? Table minimums for games like Craps, Blackjack, and Roulette are routinely much higher than minimums at other casinos (like $50+ and even $100+ at the cheapest Craps table on a Saturday night)--could that be responsible for the higher table game revenue?
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Yes, this. The table games at Encore are really expensive. Encore minimums are all well above what you'd expect to see at CT or Vegas casinos.

It's becoming clearer by the day that Encore isn't catering to the "typical slot-machine-zombie" casino demographic. They're not even catering to the "Boston educated upper-middle to upper class" demographic. They're focusing their offerings squarely on the global high-end demographic, people who will fly into town to play $100 minimum Pai Gow or Baccarat. They're aiming for the type of demographic NIMBYs think are buying up all the condos in the city.
 
Arlington said:
Actually by some counts the DC-MD area has #1 highest % with advanced degrees* (BOS is #2). I wonder if the casino at National Harbor has similar skew to table games?

* If/because/when you count Lawyers and the Fed govt has a lot of scientists at NASA/Agriculture/NSA & DOD contractors, JHU & UMd
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Fair. According to this June 2019 Report from Maryland, MGM National Harbor made $23.3M from table games and $33.6M from VLT (virtual lottery terminals... how they classify slots down there). Almost exactly the inverse of EBH's August 2019 numbers.

Casino.org ran a story today about the August 2019 report. It appears that, actually, the amount spent at slots increased A LOT in August; however, the slot hold was very small. The stated goal was to have a 10% slot hold (i.e. for every $100 spent at a machine, the casino ends up keeping $10 as revenue)...

Encore Boston Harbor President Bob DeSalvio said recently that the company is exploring how to improve its slot win. The casino saw coin-in increase from $262.4 million to $359.2 million July to August, but slot hold fell considerably from eight percent to 5.6 percent.
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At the end of the day, I think this data is informative to us (ArchBostonians) for a few reasons:
- Given Wynn Resorts' stated goals to expand their resort further, it tells us a general idea of what they do well and where they have an opportunity to grow.
- With the revenue coming in, we have a clearer picture of how much money the Commonwealth will have at its disposal for earmarked investments (infrastructure, schools, City of Everett, Tourism marketing budget, etc.).
- If EBH is in fact successful at bringing "the whales" to spend top dollar at the resort, it could carve out a new market for high-end hotel space in this part of the Harbor in coming years.
 
Cool evening shots.

I always think the angle of the Mystic from Arlington Heights is mind-warping, with the Tobin in full broadside. I usually have pretty good spacial awareness and sense of direction, but that view always trips me up with regard to how Boston geography is oriented.
 
Any updates on typical table minimums for Blackjack or Craps? Weeknights, weekends, etc?
 
Limited traffic due to Encore. Sullivan Sq and Wellington Circle remain traffic clusters purely of their own making.

"The major reason, he said, is that the Encore rush hour does not coincide with the commuter rush hour. “In the morning, we do not collide at all with the commuter hour,” he said. “I can tell you with 100 percent certainty our customers are not coming at 7 a.m. They come more around 11 a.m.”

The same is true for the evening, he said, in that the Boston crowd has chosen to come to the facility later at night than they expected during the planning. “The real pleasant surprise is the night crowd is coming later that we thought,” he said. “It’s starting to build up at 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. That doesn’t conflict with the commuter hour at all.”"


I'd love to know the actual customer patterns coming here. Does the state get a report about busses+boats occupancy and car traffic to the site?
 
Vagabond said:
"The major reason, he said, is that the Encore rush hour does not coincide with the commuter rush hour. “In the morning, we do not collide at all with the commuter hour,” he said. “I can tell you with 100 percent certainty our customers are not coming at 7 a.m. They come more around 11 a.m.”
... “It’s starting to build up at 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. That doesn’t conflict with the commuter hour at all.”"

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Duh. Not to be the conceited millennial on the forum or anything, but I called this 3 years ago.
 
"NIMBYs who predicted traffic Armageddon proven wrong by reality."
 
Saturday afternoon I noticed some $15 tables mixed in.
 
is it the case that the casino now has connected a mulituse path from its waterfront, under the N/Rport line, and over to Costco? Costco seems to have thrown up chain link fencing in a big hurry to make sure that their lot isn't used as Casino parking, which would only be "a thing" if the path is now complete.
 
Arlington said:
is it the case that the casino now has connected a mulituse path from its waterfront, under the N/Rport line, and over to Costco? Costco seems to have thrown up chain link fencing in a big hurry to make sure that their lot isn't used as Casino parking, which would only be "a thing" if the path is now complete.
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It has been open since the casinos opening day.
 
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