MGC wants more gambling tables and personnel at MGM and Encore casinos
Governor Charlie Baker signed House Bill 5164 into law last week, designating the Massachusetts Gaming Commission as regulator of the new sports wagering industry in the Commonwealth.
MGC Chair Cathy Judd-Stein and Executive Director Karen Wells offered the following statements on behalf of the Gaming Commission. “On behalf of my fellow commissioners and the staff of the MGC, we appreciate the confidence the Legislature and the Governor have in naming us as regulator of this new industry.
“For the past several years, we have been monitoring sports wagering legislation and taking appropriate steps to prepare for our potential role. As soon as this week we will be working to understand the landscape of interest in operator licensure as we move forward with this process. I appreciate the work currently underway by my fellow Commissioners and the entire MGC team. We are committed to ensuring the integrity of sports wagering in the Commonwealth and are looking forward to engaging stakeholders in an inclusive and transparent process.” – Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chair Cathy Judd-Stein.
“I appreciate the support of the Chair and the Commissioners of the MGC as we work to implement sports wagering. As the Chair has mentioned publicly, a great deal of work has already been done by our team in anticipation of sports wagering becoming legal in Massachusetts. This includes identifying over 200 potential regulations, adopting a framework to utilize industry-recognized technical standards, establishing an infrastructure to investigate and license applicants, initiating the hiring of a Chief of Sports Wagering, and scheduling public meetings. Now that we have a law that defines our responsibilities as regulator, we will work with our stakeholders to swiftly stand up this new industry with a focus on integrity, player safety and consumer protection.” – Massachusetts Gaming Commission Executive Director Karen Wells.
MGC wants more gambling tables and personnel at MGM and Encore casinos
One week after appointment into office, the MGC has asked for more gambling tables and dealers at MGM and Encore casinos At present, MGM Springfield Casino has just 269 card dealers, table games and poker supervisors and managers working, a headcount that still trails the 444 table games and poker employees it had in March 2020, just before COVID restrictions shut down the casino and forced deep layoffs.
MGC have stated that, comparing casino floor operations at the state’s three casinos to both the number of games and workers they promised the state to create and to where they were before COVID hit.
Referring to a MGC generated report on how MGM Springfield and the state’s two other casinos — Plainridge Park and Encore Boston Harbor — have recovered from COVID shutdowns that kept casino floors closed from March through July 2020, MGC Chair Cathy Judd-Stein said the lack of re-opened tables, and of dealer hiring, means the casinos are not living up to promises and to potential economic impacts. Job creation was a major reason why the state finally licensed casinos and still a part of the Gaming Commission’s mission.
“Of course, the reason why this is important is the less table games they have, the more they look like a slots parlour. And that’s not, Commissioner Hill, what you and your legislative colleagues envisioned back when gaming was expanded, We want the full complement of games, not only because that’s what our patrons want, but also the jobs that are attached,” added Judd-Stein.
MGM Springfield is licensed for 100 table games like blackjack or roulette but had just 79 of them operating in March 2020. It had 43 tables when it reopened in July 2020 and 48 as of last month It was licensed with 25 poker tables, had 22 running in March 2020 and just 14 now. Poker was not allowed in Massachusetts immediately on reopening in July 2020.
MGM had 1,844 slot machines in March 2020 before the shutdown, 869 slots in July 2020 and 1,525 as of July 2022. Stadium games, a hybrid between video gaming and table games, numbered 24 tables in March 2020 and 15 in July 2020. That number was unchanged in July 2022.
At Encore, it was originally licensed for 150 table games, but had expanded to 167 by March 2020, reopened in March 2020, reopened with 186 in July 2020 and had 184 as of July 2022. The Encore also had 74 poker tables pre-closure in March 2022 and now has just 15; and had 1,064 people working in table games in March 2020, reopened that July with 883 and now has 1,001.
At Plainridge Park, a slots-only parlor, the facility is licensed for 1,500 machines then had 1,320 at the March 2020 shutdown. It reopened with 789 and now has 946. MGM Springfield spokesperson Beth Ward declined to answer specific questions related to plans on reopening poker tables, adding gaming tables and difficulties in hiring dealers. “Our quarterly report with the (Gaming Commission) is coming up in early September which might help answer some of (these) questions,” she said.
But Bruce Band, deputy director investigations and Enforcement Bureau at Massachusetts Gaming Commission, said MGM is trying to hire more dealers. “I know they have had trouble re-hiring dealers there, from what we’ve been told,” he said. “They will get some people and they will leave for some other position.”
Overall, the national economy has regained the jobs lost due to COVID, the federal government said last week.
