Encore Boston Harbor Casino | 1 Broadway | Everett

Awful news! The job losses, along with the loss of tax revenue is tremendous. Everett, Boston, and the state are big losers if this news is true and the place is sold.

Can they really be losers if they were never winners? The place was never successful. I feel bad for the employees who get laid off, but I don't think any governments were really counting on this revenue yet (or if they were, the first year's performance probably had them dissuaded even before COVID).
 
The story is being reported literally nowhere else. I'd take it with a gigantic grain of salt. The casino is still making money.
It's also not at all clear why a new owner would lead to the doom and gloom suggested by the article.
 
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It's also not at all clear why a new owner would lead to the doom and gloom suggested by the article.
I cannot imagine this is an easy process. It is not just buying a hotel, it requires re-vetting the casino license. That has to be a long process which would likely mean an extended closure of the property.
 
I cannot imagine this is an easy process. It is not just buying a hotel, it requires re-vetting the casino license. That has to be a long process which would likely mean an extended closure of the property.
I see no reason to expect it would require a closure. Until a sale goes through, Wynn, who is licensed to operate a casino in Massachusetts still owns it and can continue to operate. For the sale to happen, the prospective buyer would need to jump through the regulatory hurdles before the close, which means up until that date, Wynn could continue operating. Now it's possible that it costs the current owner more to have it open than for it to be closed, but if that is true, good luck attracting a buyer. My guess is that they keep it open, even at a loss until the sale goes through, at which point the new owner will also have an incentive to keep it open.
 
Encore Boston Harbor's official Twitter account shot down the news pretty strongly. I guess we'll see who's bluffing...



Combine that with the sentence near the end of the Everett Leader Herald "report":

" City officials do not comment to the Leader Herald."

Add those two together and I think the issue lies more with this Josh Resnek and his editor(s). They need to reply or apologize to the readership.
 
The cost of the project was something like-- $2.6 billion.
It opened on June 23, 2019, at a total cost of $2.6 billion. After a remediation process to clean the site, Wynn Resorts constructed

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Asking price 800 Million :oops: Makes you wonder if the revenue is doing that poorly where it can't even service the operating expenses.
 
The cost of the project was something like-- $2.6 billion.
It opened on June 23, 2019, at a total cost of $2.6 billion. After a remediation process to clean the site, Wynn Resorts constructed

.


Asking price 800 Million :oops: Makes you wonder if the revenue is doing that poorly where it can't even service the operating expenses.
Read above. Encore Boston Harbor is not for sale.
 
Encore Boston Harbor's official Twitter account shot down the news pretty strongly. I guess we'll see who's bluffing...


The person who runs the Twitter account isn't going to know anything. Pretty clearly things were not going well, even before the virus, so them wanting to sell doesn't sound so outrageous if they don't think tourism will return to normal anytime soon. But yeah it's going to be tough to sell.

The story is being reported literally nowhere else. I'd take it with a gigantic grain of salt. The casino is still making money.

Is the casino even open? If it is, it won't be two weeks from now...
 
Seeing that its their official twitter account and how strongly it was stated as being false, vs leaving some type of open ended ambiguous answer leads me to believe they probably know what theyre talking about.
 
Seeing that its their official twitter account and how strongly it was stated as being false, vs leaving some type of open ended ambiguous answer leads me to believe they probably know what theyre talking about.

Right. Some social media flak wouldn't respond to a tweet like that without looping in the higher-ups.
 
Am always suspicious of the reports say route. What sources? They have said from the start that it would be a number of years before the casino would be operating with maximum income. They had no expectation that almost half the time the casino has been opened…it would be dragged down with a plague. I think Wynn is in this for the long haul. It makes no sense that they would put 2.6 billion into this project…and sell it for 800 million. It is a great asset to the region in general…and truly a beautiful property. Much nicer that the toxic waste dump that was there before. Would encourage a visit if you have not been. Boston needs this casino…as it is not an overly exciting city to start with.
 
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Am always suspicious of the reports say route. What sources? They have said from the start that it would be a number of years before the casino would be operating with maximum income. They had no expectation that almost half the time the casino has been opened…it would be dragged down with a plague.

That was before The Rona. It was doing very poorly before the virus started.
 
That was before The Rona. It was doing very poorly before the virus started.

Was it actually though? Encore wasn't hitting their fantasy inflated projections but it's a real stretch to say they were doing poorly. I remember them routinely pulling in over $50m/month, which translates to $600-$700m/year. Their projections were at $800ish million, so yes didn't quite get there, but doing very poorly? In what world?
 
Right. Some social media flak wouldn't respond to a tweet like that without looping in the higher-ups.

Can confirm as my office's communications person...given the context, I would never answer a question like this without checking in at the highest levels.
 
I remember them routinely pulling in over $50m/month, which translates to $600-$700m/year. Their projections were at $800ish million, so yes didn't quite get there, but doing very poorly? In what world?

No need to speak in approximations... let's *consult the tapes*, shall we?:

https://massgaming.com/wp-content/uploads/Revenue-Encore-Boston-Harbor-November-2020.pdf

What those figures tell me:

1.) If the rebound of gaming revenues is a rough proxy for return of patronage, then, damn, lots of people unafraid to mix it up in the casino in the midst of a raging pandemic... but who knows what that translates to, pandemic-wise? Should we infer that the casino is a potential superspreader site? I really don't know what their protocols are, if they're forcing patrons to pass through temperature gates at ingress or egress, etc. Others may be more knowledgeable and of course I defer to them.

One thing I do know: casino culture is uniquely prone to accelerating an outbreak: all of the intimate touches that take place, at such high volume, through the gambling floor and beyond... just think of the scenes in "Casino," when the chip hustler portrayed by Sharon Stone was demonstrating how she worked her hustle. That's not being alarmist; that's reality. I really empathize for the casinos, in terms of trying to counteract that innate culture/behavioral matrix.

2.) The slots recovery is more robust than the table games. That makes plenty of sense, assuming that visitation from England, Saudi Arabia, Russia, East Asia, Australia, and other known nodes of intense, high roller, has cratered.

What else should we infer from the metrics?
 
The person who runs the Twitter account isn't going to know anything. Pretty clearly things were not going well, even before the virus, so them wanting to sell doesn't sound so outrageous if they don't think tourism will return to normal anytime soon. But yeah it's going to be tough to sell.



Is the casino even open? If it is, it won't be two weeks from now...
The person(s) operating the resort’s Twitter account are literally responsible for effectively communicating accurate information to the public.

Casino at 7:15p tonight (Saturday). Open, 80% full garage—place looks fine. Open 9am to 9pm daily in accordance with Massachusetts pandemic guidelines.
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To answer other poster’s question: all guests have to walk through temperature checks. All staff and guests are required to wear masks at all times, unless actively drinking/eating while seated at restaurant or game. All table flames have plexiglass dividers between players and dealers. All restaurant tables are spaced at least 6’ minimum from each other.

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Staff are routinely wiping down slot machine surfaces (really all touch surfaces) very often, and there are hand sanitizer stations everywhere.

2E3D0EAA-3B46-471A-A3EE-7BE44D7B91BA.jpeg
 
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To answer other poster’s question: all guests have to walk through temperature checks. All staff and guests are required to wear masks at all times, unless actively drinking/eating while seated at restaurant or game. All table flames have plexiglass dividers between players and dealers. All restaurant tables are spaced at least 6’ minimum from each other. Staff are routinely wiping down slot machine surfaces (really all touch surfaces) very often, and there are hand sanitizer stations everywhere.

Very helpful primer on their COVID countermeasures, thanks. I still believe that casinos are uniquely susceptible to suffering from viral outbreaks given all of the touching that would normally take place--high-fives, handshakes, hugs, yelling, etc., etc. But that, of course, does not mean that a casino can't be run safely during a pandemic, provided management is extremely vigilant. But is a casino inherently less "fun" if it's being run responsibly during a pandemic? I don't know...
 

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