Wynn Resorts’ $2.6 billion Encore Boston Harbor, the third casino to open in the Bay State, swung open its doors last week in Everett, Massachusetts. By far the largest of the three casinos in the state, it has 3,100 slots, 231 gaming tables and VIP gaming rooms; 15 bars and restaurants, and many retail shops. The iconic 27-story bronzed curved hotel tower with 671 rooms has dominated the landscape for many months now
Thousands of patrons lined up for hours in the paths and harbor walk of the 33-acre site, some since the early morning. They cheered as VIPs and representatives of the 5,000 employees took part in the ribbon cutting.
According to Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria, the land where the casino resort now sits went from “Superfund site” to “super site.” Addressing the crowd, many of them residents of the industrial city of 46,000, he said, “When you drive through Everett, you’ll no longer smell gas and sulfur and oils. But you’ll smell flowers and trees.” He added, “We will no longer be the back door to the city of Boston. We will now be the front door to the city of Everett.”
DeMaria noted that the whole process took eight years, from the day he envisioned a casino along the Mystic River to the opening. Five years ago, Wynn won the license for the Boston metro area. It included a massive environmental cleanup of the former Monsanto chemical site that returned much of what is now a river walk to a condition unseen for over a century.
Standing next to the mayor, Wynn CEO Matt Maddox recalled standing with DeMaria on what was then a blighted landscape. “Now there’s a thousand mature trees, 50,000 flowering plants, tens of thousands of shrubs and a living shoreline for the first time in 100 hundred years,” he said.
“Eight years ago the people of Massachusetts and the lawmakers… had the foresight to understand the opportunity for urban renewal, economic development for the finest integrated resort in the world,” said Maddox. “Those were the goals and I’m here to tell you that Encore Boston Harbor has achieved those goals.”
Cathy Judd, chairwoman of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission called the Encore an “international entertainment destination.” She thanked the developer for giving the public access to a waterfront that had been closed to them.
Guests included Elaine Wynn, the largest shareholder in the company and ex-wife of the company’s founder Steve Wynn, and Allan Zeman, chairman of Wynn Macau Ltd. After the ribbon-cutting, Elaine Wynn stood on a balcony watching the flower-covered carousel that greets guests and remarked, “We’re just waiting in happy anticipation. What I really love is how beautifully dressed everyone is, and respectful of our environment.”
Maddox predicted that the new resort would be his company’s “calling card to other cities and destinations around the world.” He added that the casino might be a template for both the company and the industry. “This isn’t a local casino. This isn’t regional gambling. This is the first time a major city has a five-star, large-scale, integrated resort,” he told GGRAsia. It is also the company’s first venture outside of its twin hubs of Las Vegas and Macao. It also has more square footage than the Wynn Las Vegas and Encore Las Vegas combined.
Maddox told the Associated Press, “What I see going forward is building these kinds of resorts within the city fabric, not as something an hour and a half away. This can be our calling card to other cities and destinations around the world, really.”
Last week the brokerage firm of Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd. in an open letter to Wynn Resorts’ CEO Matt Maddox was highly critical of the company’s less than weeklong but very public flirtation with selling the property to MGM Resorts. These talks happened in April shortly after the Massachusetts Gaming Commission issued its record $35 million fine for the gaming giant’s handling of decades of sexual allegations against its founder and disgraced former CEO Steve Wynn. But in the end, commissioners but did not revoke Wynn’s license to operate in the state. It found Wynn “suitable” to continue holding that license.
Maddox was personally criticized by the MGC for his lack of leadership and hit with an individual fine of $500,000 and had to agree to several conditions such as engaging an independent monitor for at least three years and getting leadership training. At that point the company seems to have contemplated leaving the state.
The brokerage company says this was a very bad idea. “While the discussions were quickly terminated, the news of such discussions even occurring so close to opening were disheartening,” said the letter from Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd.
Analysts cited in the letter including Vitaly Umansky, Eunice Lee and Kelsey Zhu said they were heartened by Maddox’s unequivocal statement several weeks later that the property was not for sale. They wrote, “Matt’s recent comments about no longer looking to sell is a welcome initiative. We see the potential of Encore Boston being a key growth driver and diversification component for Wynn Resorts.”
Referring to the controversy that involved his mentor and former CEO Steve Wynn, Maddox said in an interview last week, “The controversy is behind us. The transition is finished. Our eyes are on the future.”
The brokerage predicts that the property will outperform its competitors on the East Coast with a value “too big to ignore.” They wrote, “By 2020, over 41 percent of Wynn Resorts’ EBITDA (adjusted for minority interest) would be derived from U.S. properties, amongst which, 16 percent of the total should be derived from Encore Boston.”
This first true Las Vegas-style casino—there are two levels of casino floor— to open on the East Cast has 143 table games, including some stadium gaming terminals for novice players, and dealers will to give lessons. With a nod to the modern—and the millennials—all the poker tables have cell chargers.
The 3,100 coinless slots have a variety of the most popular games, from Game of Thrones to X-Files to various reel games. All levels of wagers, from penny to $500 minimums, are accommodated.
The poker room has 88 tables, including 11 high limit tables. There are six private VIP rooms where the minimum bet is $1,000 and which are staffed by “the most experienced dealers from around the U.S.,” not to mention butlers at the ready.
A true integrated resort, the Encore has plenty of things for non-gamblers to do. As Maddox put it, “This will definitely be, I think, a very vibrant casino, but we’re looking forward to the non-gaming assets doing quite well here.”
Its flagship nightclub Memoire will open one week from the ribbon-cutting with shows that will include Steve Aoki and DJ Diesel.
Outside is a six-acre waterfront park traversed by river walks. Patrons can be pampered with manicures, pedicures, makeup services, a barbershop and wander through shops selling high-end clothing and beauty supplies.
Devoted foodies will have 15 options to compel their interest, ranging from the casual sports bars On Deck to a classic steakhouse and an Italian eatery. Even a Dunkin’ next to the casino action. Plus dining that caters to Asian and seafood tastes. Not to mention a Vegas staple: the buffet.
Two of Boston’s most well-known purveyors of alcohol, Bully Boy Distillers and Lord Hobo are serving a gin exclusive to the Encore and Encore-branded beer. And since the casino recently won a waiver from the laws that require most bars to close at 2 a.m., players at the casino floor can be served complimentary drinks until 4 a.m.
Before the opening, officials of Everett, regional transportation authorities and casino management were actively encouraging as many people as possible not to drive to the Encore, at least for its opening day. Or ever, for that matter. Instead, they urged the 50,000 who were expected on peak days to employ public transportation.
Or as Mayor DeMaria put it: “If you want to have a nice day on Sunday, don’t drive.”
These options include free shuttles from the MBTA Orange Line’s Wellington and Malden Center stations; ferries from Boston across the Mystic River, buses from park-and-rides in the nearby towns of Londonderry, New Hampshire and Millbury and Rockland.
Cars can be accommodated at the casino’s parking garage and a large lot across the street, but parking rates are steep. There is no street parking in the city. The casino parking is so extensive that it’s color-coded, so motorists can find their vehicles easier.
The major traffic snarls that had been feared, and which were the main reason the casino opened on a Sunday, didn’t materialize. Players followed the advice of officials and took shuttles, ferries and Uber-like services to the resort.
Robert DeSalvio, president of Encore Boston Harbor, praised the results. “This morning demonstrated that guests will leave their cars at home if they have access to modern and convenient choices,” he said. “In the days ahead, we will continue to monitor traffic closely, but today we want to thank our visitors who embraced alternatives. Dozens of federal, state, and local agencies collaborated with us on plans, and the early results show great promise for the long term.”
The 671 hotel rooms range from 650 square feet to 5,800 square feet for the two penthouse suites on the top floor. All feature opulent Wynn furniture, 55-inch high-definition TVs, beds with high-thread count linens, high-speed Wi-Fi and espresso makers. There are even TVs in the bathrooms. The cost to rent these rooms are commensurate with their opulence, about $650 a night, on average.
Ahead of the casino’s opening the state was prepared to offer options for problem gamblers—a program called GameSense. This program, run by Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling assists players in setting limits for themselves and sticking to them. It informs them of the actual odds of winning. The GameSense volunteers are trained to look for signs of addiction and guide patrons towards help and treatment: if they want it.
Meanwhile, four people were arrested on the opening day and two of them, residents of the Bronx, were accused of cheating together at roulette. Of the other two, one was charged with disorderly conduct and another with trespassing. A fifth person was issued a summons for possession of heroin.
Massachusetts State Police spokesman David Procopio didn’t emphasize the arrests, saying there were “no major incidents,” despite very heavy crowds. He credited the police with mainly shepherding minors away from the gaming floor and helping to defuse arguments and do crowd control.
In an interview after the opening, Mayor DeMaria told WGBH that jobs for residents was high on his list of hopes for the Encore. “A lot of our residents struggle to work two or three jobs,” he said. “Now maybe having this job here with good benefits and being all union employees working inside the facility, hopefully they don’t have to work as many hours. I’m hoping a lot of them walk to work if they can I’ll just take the shuttle down. It’s an exciting and surreal time. It hasn’t really hit me yet.”
He also talked about the transformation of the waters of the Mystic River and how he hopes the casino is the first brick in a series of redevelopments. “The scrap yards and used car lots—they’re going to be gone,” he said. “There are going to be other hotels and other restaurants providing more jobs, more taxes for the city (and) cleaning up environmental sites. For the first time in the last three years, since they started cleaning up the site, we got an ‘A’ rating to swim in the water out front of this facility. I mean, you and I would not even dare to think about jumping into this water out front. Now you can technically swim without getting sick or anything. That’s unbelievable.”
Some Wynn executives are hinting that the resort that just opened could be the beginning of even more—for example, on 11 acres the company just bought for future development. Encore Boston Harbor President Bob DeSalvio told the Boston Globe, “With the property that we have across the street, in conjunction with this as really a major anchor, there will be other hospitality and tourism-related assets that would work quite well with the property.”
The property, he said, could be used for apartments, convention space, dining, taverns and a large-scale concert venue. “We’re going to start with a blank canvas,” said DeSalvio.
Maddox added, “Our idea—I believe, along with the mayor’s—is to continue to redevelop this area so that it’s known as the entertainment district in the Northeast.”
Wynn is also looking with some anticipation about the possibility of sports betting being legalized in the Bay State, and how to take advantage of it if it is. Maddox said, “If the state of Massachusetts decides to do that, we have identified a place for it. We actually have a design that we worked out. We would be ready to move forward, if that opportunity exists.”
Wynn might also help finance a multi-million footbridge across the Mystic River to connect the casino to Assembly Square in Somerville, where the Orange Line MBTA station is—which would save patrons and workers walking a mile to the casino.
DeSalvio said, “We are expecting multiple stakeholders to participate because there will be so many beneficiaries to this kind of a project.” He added, “We will be there, but all we’re asking is that it’s a complete project.”
Now that the casino has opened, CEO DeSalvio estimates it will take about 90 days before it is running completely smoothly. He told the Globe: “I think for now our main goal is to get the resort open, gauge customer reaction, and then we’ll take a step back and look at all the assets and say, ‘What do we have? What’s working? If there’s things that aren’t working, how can we change them?’”
