Although the Bay State’s two casino resorts have been allowed to reintroduce craps, roulette and a fourth seat at gaming tables, they would like for the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to give them the go ahead to bring back poker.
They may be waiting awhile.
Since the changes were made between July and October, players have started to complain about no poker, according to Investigations and Enforcement Bureau Assistant Director Bruce Band. He told the MGC, “Complaints about not having poker have gone up greatly since two weeks ago,” he told the Gaming Commission. “Everybody wants to know when we’re gonna do it.”
Poker is not profitable for the casinos when only four players are allowed at a table, said Band.
According to the Encore Boston Harbor in Everett, “fully operational” poker would need nine seats at a table. It posted this on its website:
“When that time comes, we will evaluate the viability of the market, the demand for the game, and our facility’s capacity to support it. Until then, we will continue to operate without live poker.”
Band told the panel: “They’re still working on a table there to see if they can figure out a way to get the dividers and make it safe for everybody at the table.”
The commission allowed a fourth seat to table games on March 11. This resulted in 90 new gaming positions at the MGM Springfield and 183 at the Encore.
Band explained “But the only thing that we observed was that a normal craps game gets about 130 rolls per hour. With the plexiglass that’s probably cut that down to about 90 rolls per hour, slowed the game down a little bit.”
