Encore Boston Harbor – Everett Leader Herald

Encore revenues decline in August

Mass Gaming Commission revenue report . (Courtesy of the MGC)

By JOSH RESNEK

Revenues at Encore in Everett soared in July but fell an unexpected $2 million in August.

More than $57 million in gaming revenues made August a success but the expectation industry-wide had been for a broader expansion of gaming revenues.

The $2 million decline was surprising but not unusual for the industry which tends to experience big gains and steep declines from time to time.

Casino analysts said the $2 million downturn was not significant enough to note anything but a month-to-month decline.

They also reiterated that the coming of online sports betting to Massachusetts at some point is going to vastly increase Encore’s revenues.

Slot revenues declined by $1.5 million over July’s, which had soared previously by $4 million over July’s.

Slot revenues came in at $32.4 million.

Table game revenues increased by about $300,000.

Former Wynn official caught in college admission’s scandal

By JOSH RESNEK

A former high-ranking Wynn Resorts official, Gamal Abdelaziz, who was one of the key players when Mayor Carlo DeMaria was trying to bring the casino here, is being tried in Federal District Court.

The crime?

Gamal Abdelaziz conspired with William Singer, a college admissions fraudster. Singer aided Abdelaziz’s child to be admitted to the University of Southern California as a basketball player when she was not good enough to play for the university.

Abdelaziz paid Singer hundreds of thousands of dollars to have his daughter admitted.

Mr. Singer told Abdelaziz and many others that they could bypass the regular admissions process by presenting their children as athletic recruits, and he falsified or embellished their credentials so they could do that, the prosecutor said in Federal District Court in Boston where the trial is into its second week.

Abdelaziz had numerous contacts with DeMaria during the initial period when Wynn Resorts got involved in Boston.

Abdelaziz is a major casino figure in the industry.

He has denied any wrong- doing telling prosecutors: “He thought Singer was legitimate,” Brian T. Kelly, the lawyer for Mr. Abdelaziz, said in his opening statement in Boston federal court. “He had no inkling that Singer was a skilled con man.”

Encore rolls out newest eatery, Frank and Nick’s a jackpot

Wynn-Bet newest sports bar unveiled

Encore Boston Harbor Casino and Resort. (Photo by Jim Mahoney)

By JOSH RESNEK

Part of Encore’s effort to come to terms with itself and what it ought to be is all bound up in a new venture by two Boston restauranteur legends.

Frank DePasquale – the man literally with all the dough and much of the skill – is partnering with his gambling buddy, the bon vivant Nick Varano to launch Frank and Nick’s for the new casino sports betting bar.

The eating and betting venue is Encore’s newest and most dynamic entry into the electronic betting world.

Opening on September 4, the restaurant will feature more than 60 televisions, including a mammoth 10-foot high and 123-foot-long video wall.

Wynn’s dream has not materialized since the casino opened; what comes next

By JOSH RESNEK

When the Encore Boston Harbor Casino and Hotel opened to great fanfare in June, 2019, the hopes and dreams and all the business acumen the Wynn Resorts crew could muster led us to believe this was going to be an unprecedented success.

It has been a success but a success with qualifications.

It has not risen to what it was supposed to be.

The hotel remains less than half full during busy weekends. It is not open Monday through Thursday. Casino revenues appear to have topped. Growth is a question mark as executives look forward into a future they cannot predict.

There is rising demand but this is juxtaposed against changing trends in the casino world.

Such a situation was unimaginable just three years ago.

Today, it is a fact of life, and expensive one for the Wynn Corporation.

Steve Wynn, the defrocked billionaire gaming guru envisioned the Encore as an international playhouse attracting thousands of foreigners coming into Boston to gamble away small fortunes while staying in five star rooms and suites at the hotel.

Swirling Wynns

Encore Boston Harbor. (Photo By Jim Mahoney)

Shareholder lawsuit against resort giant moving forward, roller coaster share prices

By JOSH RESNEK

For those of you who follow the stock market’s ups and downs, the past few weeks have seen the decline in the price of Wynn stock.

If you own Wynn stock, then you have experienced rather wide highs and lows during the past year.

Obviously, the close down of casinos and their hotels did not help stock prices during the pandemic.

But the pandemic is over – at least it seems to be over – except for those who refuse to get vaccinated.

The so-called variant virus is now attacking those who have not been vaccinated, and this includes younger people and children of school age.

The variant is attacking even those who have been vaccinated.

This could be problematic for the casino industry. Uncertainty does not allow for stock prices to surge.

Wynn’s stock price has been going down.

It nearly touched its one-year low Tuesday at $98.75.

The upward surge that saw it at $114 just a few weeks ago has disappeared or coalesced, however, an investor wishes to view the situation.