All three casinos in the Bay State began opening last week, beginning with Plainridge Park Casino, which opened on July 8. All were part of Governor Charlie Baker’s Phase 3 reopening plan, which allowed “higher risk” businesses to reopen. The casinos closed on March 14.
Plainridge put up a video on its website informing patrons of its new safety rules, including hand sanitizing stations, social distancing floor markets and Plexiglass barriers between machines.
Encore Boston Harbor in Everett opened on July 12. MGM Springfield was the last, on July 13.
All three reopened under the rules mandated by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission that include masks for all, six foot separation between slots (or clear plastic separators) and no table games except Blackjack—and those with dividers separating dealer from players, who may number no more than three. Not allowed are craps, roulette and poker.
The three casinos are operating at about 25 percent occupancy and guests are not allowed to carry drinks, but may only drink them while at a machine.
The casinos have also adopted individual precautions over and above what the MGC requires. Encore will scan employees’ and guests’ temperatures; MGM will only scan employees’ temperatures.
Plainridge and MGM are opening only some dining areas. Plainridge is limiting its alcoholic beverage offerings to beer.
The $2.6 billion Encore gave a reopening tour the day before its doors swung open when President Eric Gullbrants described to reporters what the casino had been like during the shutdown: “There were no flowers in here at all,” he said. “It was very quiet and lifeless and it’s coming back to life. There was no music here. We just put that back on. It was definitely quiet because there was no music and no employees and the most important thing – no people. It was just a few of us really. The resort is being brought back to life now. I feel the heart and soul of our company coming back to life.”
The Encore had about 5,000 employees when it closed. On reopening day it welcomed back 2,700 workers. Others may follow if business warrants it.
Gullbrants said, “We have a really tremendous staff. Very few people have left…If demand is high and we can open additional areas, we will. That will only be when it’s safe. I have to say the week has been like a homecoming for us.”
Wynn spokesman Eric Kraus said only a few guests had to be reminded to keep their masks over their noses. “People enjoyed the experience. Some guests actually enjoyed the Plexiglas barrier being up better than the way it used to be. People were great and they enjoyed themselves.” Unknown whether table players enjoy that the dealer flips their cards for them. If a player accidentally does touch a card it is disposed of immediately. At any rate a deck of cards doesn’t survive the day before being disposed of.
Since there is no poker, that space is being used to expand blackjack, video poker and other slots. However Gullbrants says they are working with a plastic barrier maker to come up with something that would allow that game to return.
The Encore drew on the reopening experiences of other Wynn properties, specifically in Macau and Las Vegas, that had reopened, and prepared a detailed operating plan that it submitted to the MGC, and refined repeatedly.
The number of gaming stations has gone from 4,500 to 2,449 with 1,000 machines closed to enable social distancing.
The number of entrances has been reduced to one, which makes it easier to scan all the guests with a thermal imaging camera to detected higher temperatures.
The hotel is open partially, and is closed three days a week. Some restaurants are open, including some of the higher end dining experiences such as the Rare Steakhouse, Fratelli and Mystique. Most are operating at 50 percent capacity. Diners can order from menus on their phones and their table is sanitized before they sit. They are provided a coaster to rest their masks on.
The MGM opened slowly but over the morning eventually filled to the allowed capacity. The earliest visitors were members of the M life loyalty program, who had been invited over the weekend before the opening to give the casino a soft reopening. The MGM is allowed to have 3,000 guests at any one time. It keeps track with electronic counters and enforces the limit by sending security details to block the parking garage. It opened without the hotel but does plan to reopen its cinemas soon.
As of its reopening, MGM is operating with 700 employees of the 2,500 it employed before the pandemic.
