By JOSH RESNEK
In a sign of much better times likely to follow, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission is allowing Encore Boston Harbor to reintroduce a 4th player position at blackjack-style tables, and in a bigger concession to the retreat of the virus, is allowing the reintroduction of the game of craps.
This not only applies to Encore but to MGM Springfield.
The curtailment and restriction of those games were regarded as a knife into the heart of the local gaming industry as those are two of the most hotly played games at Encore and wherever casinos exist.
Their return should have just the opposite effect.
The MGC ruled last Friday allowing for a 4th blackjack player but requires that layer positions would continue to be separated by plexiglass dividers separating the dealers from the players and between players’ positions.
A minimum of approximately three feet between player positions would be maintained, measured from the center of each seat. Chairs for unavailable positions will be removed.
The Commission also approved the Minimum Requirements for craps, featuring a maximum of six players per table with three players maximum on each side of the table.
Craps players must remain seated while gambling, and no patrons will be permitted to stand or congregate around tables.
Plexiglass dividers will separate the dealer from players, and plexiglass dividers will also separate players from each other and the table itself. Players will be allowed at four-foot intervals.
Dice will be sanitized between shooters and the reintroduction of craps will be accompanied by a change applicable to COVID-19 requirements.
All bets must be placed before the dice are sent out. Signage to the same effect is required on each craps table.
Carps is among the most exciting and exhilarating of casino games.
Generally, large, excited crowds of players and observers roar to the roll of the dice around a very crowded table.
Temporarily, the virus has removed much of the excitement – but the casino managers are happy to have the game back even in a diminished form.