The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has heard the reasons why its two casino resorts aren’t offering poker yet, and has decided not to press them about it.
At the MGC’s July 29 meeting commissioners closely questioned Encore Boston Harbor Senior Vice President and General Counsel Jacqui Krum about why the card game hasn’t yet returned, even though casinos have been allowed to reopen at full capacity since May.
A large volume of complaints by members of the public prompted the commission to investigate. Normally the panel fields five complaints a month. Lately it has gotten ten times that amount, all related to poker.
“To be clear, we did not say ‘never’ to poker. We have said, ‘just not at this time,’” said Krum. “We’re constantly readjusting offerings based on guest demand.”
During the height of the pandemic the MGC mandated that poker be limited to four players separated by clear plastic barriers. Both the Encore Boston Harbor and MGM Springfield said they couldn’t make the game profitable on those terms and so poker didn’t return. However, once things were back to normal, the games still didn’t come back.
Both casinos promised to revisit the situation by the end of the year.
One reason that poker hasn’t returned is, not surprisingly, money. According to Krum, the space once occupied by Texas Hold ‘em Tables is now taken up by “some of our highest performing slot machines.” She added that the slots were “physically large machines that take up quite a bit of space” and that the room’s popularity has grown “exponentially.” The implication is that while poker fans may be loud, their numbers are few.
Still another reason is more telling still: a shortage of poker dealers. Krum explained, “We remain in continual hiring mode. We simply cannot find enough dealers, cashiers or food servers.” The casino has offered to pay for poker school for new hires.
Reopening poker, she said, would require closing other table games. “We fully understand the impact of these changes to our valued guests, including our poker players, and if we could add another floor to the casino we would.”
The commission decided to, uh, table any action, deferring to the casinos to run their operations at maximum efficiency. They did ask both casinos to give them regular updates, however.
