By Josh Resnek
Encore Boston Harbor’s $48.6 gaming income for July was over the top, according to figures compiled by the company and released by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.
In fact, the three casinos in Massachusetts cumulatively generated $81.4 million in July revenue, with Encore Boston Harbor in our city accounting for about 60% of that figure.
Bottom line – Encore’s predictions of what it would generate were right on the mark.
The state is pleased as well, as 25% of Encore’s $48.6 million translates into more than $12 million in tax revenues for the state.
The Massachusetts state budget had earmarked slightly more than $100 million in taxes during Encore’s first year in business.
If July’s rate of income continues, Massachusetts will gain $144 million in taxes during the first year, succeeding way beyond the estimates.
Table game revenue accounted for more than half of Encore’s July haul, totaling $27.4 million, while slots brought in another $21.2 million last month.
Gamblers put more than $262.4 million into the 3,158 slot machines at Encore and the house kept about 8.1% of it.
Industry analysts have not yet chimed in about Encore’s July figures.
The giants in the international gaming business are preoccupied with the problems in Hong Kong and how they are effecting business in the Wynn casino in Macau, which is only 40 miles away.
Given how the presence of the casino in the city has not affected the city’s quality of life negatively in any way, the giant gambling revenue figures look all the more appealing.
With thousands gainly employed, with traffic not turning into a nightmare, with only some minor police matters hampering the steady flow of good feeling coming from the casino complex, Encore looks like a big winner for Everett, and for the state.
State government can expect to collect about $12.1 million in taxes from Encore Boston Harbor and another $5.1 million in taxes from MGM Springfield. Combined, the two full-scale casinos generated about $17.2 million in tax revenue for the state last month. The two full-scale casinos in Massachusetts – MGM Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor – are taxed at a rate of 25% of their gross gaming revenue.
Massachusetts, in its first full month having two full-scale casinos and a racino in operation, took in about $23.4 million tax revenue and has collected a cumulative $410 million in taxes and assessments from the three gaming facilities that have opened under the 2011 expanded gaming law, the Gaming Commission said.