Encore Boston Harbor – Everett Leader Herald

Older gamblers heading back to Encore Casino

Vaccines cited in part to up tick

By JOSH RESNEK

In Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Sun and Review reported this week that older gamblers have started to return to the Wynn properties there in far greater numbers.

The return of older gamblers, one of the pillars of everyday business that is done at casinos wherever they exist, is a key component of the rising revenue figures recently reported here and in Las Vegas.

Last month, revenues rose by almost $7 million at Encore Boston Harbor in Everett.

Activity at the casino according to several employees the Leader Herald has spoken with is markedly improved.

This is because of two reasons – vaccinations against the COVID shielding the elderly from sickness, and expanded hours of gambling allowed by the state as restrictions are being removed in tandem with infections and hospitalizations going down.

“Traffic inside Las Vegas casinos is picking up again, but it’s not all driven by young travelers with pent-up demand,” it was noted in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Casino operators say customers 65 and over have started to return, spurred by the growing availability of COVID-19 vaccines across the country.

“As more of the older end of the customer spectrum receives vaccines and becomes more comfortable with leaving their houses … that for sure means they’ll start to step out and go back to their favorite casinos again,” said gaming consultant Josh Swissman of The Strategy Organization, as reported in the Review-Journal.

Boomtown predicted for Encore as Coronavirus is slowly tamed

By JOSH RESNEK

Those of you who follow closely the present situation and the future prospects for Encore Boston Harbor understand this: the present moment is dreary and a big drag on your positive energy.

Restrictions on groups, restrictions on games, restrictions on hotel gatherings, restrictions, restrictions, restrictions, viruses, viruses, restrictions – all of this is never conducive to business operating the way it should.

Industry analysts to a person agree – that within two years or more – this bump in the road – this year lost to the pandemic and our response – will be the stuff of a bad dream whose dark memory is fading every day.

Gambling is fun. Americans en Masse want to be having fun.

Gambling is extremely profitable.

Casino analysts intuitively know that what is happening with Encore and Wynn revenue figures today, is not a fraction of what will be happening within two to three years.

In other words, industry analysts pay little heed to present-day earnings reports from casino companies because they know for certain what lies ahead.

Encore Casino sees revenue jump $7M between January and February

January revenue report for Encore Casino.

Revenues rose at the Encore Boston Harbor dramatically from January to February by $7 million – a remarkable uptick.

Slot and game table revenues totaled about $40M compared with last month’s figure of $33M.

The expansion of hours and pent-up energy among gamblers is believed to be the catalyst for the huge 30-day jump.

The lessening danger of the virus and vaccinations are also apparently the extraordinary rise in revenues.

Black Jack, craps tables as restrictions lifted

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.

Mayor silent on how much Encore owes of the yearly $30M

By JOSH RESNEK

The mayor remains exquisitely quiet and without a public answer to one of the most important financial difficulties the city faces.

Has Encore paid up its yearly $30M in lieu of tax payment to the treasury or has it not?

This is the question.

The city needs everything it is owed to fulfill its budgetary requirements and spending initiatives.

Without full payment from Encore – which should be paid like a tax bill on time when due – the city likely faces a shortfall that must somehow be made up.

Last year, the Leader Herald reported that Encore had not paid on time or in full, the $30M owe.

Encore unilaterally said it had begun sending the state the Everett payments and that the state was expected to pass the money on to the city.

Efforts to reach out to the mayor regarding this issue have not been answered.