No food service yet, social distancing, hotel closed for now

Encore Boston Harbor is finally opening its doors Sunday morning — and they’re not closing. Looming over industrial Mystic River waterfront in Everett, the lavish resort casino begins full. Encore Boston Harbor will open its doors at 9 a.m. July 12, pending approval from state gaming officials. The decision comes after the Massachusetts Gaming Commission approved a slew of reopening.

BY JOSH RESNEK

The Encore Boston Harbor resort casino on the Mystic River in Everett is now open after the $2.6 billion project opened its doors to the public Sunday morning. The facility employs more than 5,000.

If everything goes according to the plan as approved this week by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, Wynn Boston Harbor Casino will be opening on or around June 29.

Thus, will end an extraordinary closure of the casino which began on March 15 when the Coronavirus began hitting us with full force.

Since March 15 neither the casino nor the Encore Hotel has produced a dime of revenue.

The hotel will not be reopening on the 29th, according to Wynn company officials.

The hotel may reopen but on a limited basis, according to company reports.

The casino however will be reopening with a full litany of social distancing and hygienic requirements.

Temperatures will be taken. Hand washers will be everywhere. All employees will be wearing masks.

It is expected that many customers will do the same although the requirement is not absolute.

It is not yet entirely clear which restaurants will be reopening and in what capacity.

The buffet, which has been reopened in Las Vegas, will not be reopened here.

In the casino itself, card games have been eliminated and many other table games have been introduced.

Wynn Encore Boston Opening Date

Ending card games eliminated the need for dealers.

Encore Casino Boston Open Today

They have all been laid off.

With $3.4 billion in liquid assets, or enough to last the company for 1 1⁄2 years at the present burn rate, Wynn company president Matt Maddox is confident the comeback will be strong and over time, everything will come back to normal.

“We are confident that travel and tourism will recover in both the US and China, and our industry leading assets, fortress balance sheet and talented team members position the company to thrive in the years ahead,” Maddox affirmed.

The casino operator posted operating revenue of $953.7m for the period ending 31 March, a fall of 42.3 percent compared to the same period in 2019.

Wynn closed its Strip operations on 17 March. In Las Vegas, Q1 operating revenues were $323.8m, a 19.3 percent decrease from $401m for the first quarter of 2019. Operating revenues at Encore Boston Harbor came in at $140.9m.

In Asia, the company’s subsidiary Wynn Macau reported a nearly $154.2m net loss for the first quarter.

Wynn’s Macau interests generate about $75% of the company’s income. The closing of Beijing because of a recurrence of the virus will impact business in Macau which is a new worry for Wynn Resorts.

Encore Casino Boston Opening Day

With air travel and tour- ism to Boston remaining extremely slim and limited, it is difficult to predict how the casino reopening will go.

Company officials in statements to Wynn employees say they are raring to go, a sentiment shared by a great many employees who have been paid by the company throughout the ordeal.

Wynn Encore Boston Opening

It is believed that pent up demand for customers to go out again and to gamble will

be enough to bring respectable crowds back to the casino.

As of Tuesday, Wynn stock was traded at $92.00.

Its 52 week high was $153.00. The 52 week low, $35.00.

The dividend has been suspended.

The market cap, that is, the value of the company’s stock in the hands of all its shareholders is about $10 billion.

Wynn presently owes the city of Everett for in lieu of tax payments – an amount believed to be about $12 million.

It is expected that money will shortly be paid to the city.

The city will be without substantial income generated by hotel room fees for the near future.

© Provided by Boston Herald EVERETT, MA - JUNE 17: Encore Casino is seen on June 17, 2020 in Everett, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Angela Rowlings/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)

Boston Casino Encore Opening

The die has been cast: The Encore Boston Harbor casino plans to open back up on Sunday, July 12, the company announced Thursday.

The announcement came a few hours after Gov. Charlie Baker announced that Phase 3 of his four-phase coronavirus reopening plan will start Monday. During this step, casinos, movie theaters and gyms can start back up following closures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

But Encore will have far from a full house, as the casino has said it will have many of its slot machines turned off, and it will enforce social distancing.

“Every effort has been made to preserve Encore’s luxury experience and provide guests with the peace of mind needed to enjoy a fun and relaxing return,” the casino said in a statement announcing the game-on move.

The opening is pending the approval of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.

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Encore, at $2.3 billion, was the most expensive private construction project in the history of the state, opening last June before closing March 15 as the pandemic spread.

Its top brass in May outlined a range of steps for an eventual coronavirus-era reopening, including thermal cameras taking the temperature of everyone going in and out, and all staff and visitors being required to wear a mask. They said the casino will sanitize all machines every hour and will use “disinfectant guns” that blast an electrified mist of cleaning products.

The casino is installing plexiglass between gamblers at blackjack tables, and restaurants will not be using printed menus as guests instead use their smartphones to order food.

Other table games like poker, craps and roulette remain suspended until further notice.

Massachusetts’ coronavirus trends have remained positive now more than two months after the state and Boston-area peak. But cases nationally have begun to spike, driven mostly by large outbreaks in the southeast and southwest.

Encore, a huge golden building on the banks of the Mystic River, which is owned by casino giant Wynn resorts. The casino said it will open its hotel side “in a limited capacity.”