Massachussets, i casino dopo il Covid-19 still struggle to restart live poker despite pressure from the regulator
And casinos in Massachusetts continue to want to keep the poker room closed or with a few open tables despite solicitations from the sector’s regulators.
According to a report from the state’s Gaming Commission, Massachusetts casinos collected a total of $93 million in revenue from gaming in June. A good loot considering that the capacity of gambling in the casino has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels. It’s an absolutely unique case because table games and poker live, sono ripartiti dappertutto and con grandi numeri.
The gross revenue of Mgm Springfield in June was 21.1 million dollars from 1,527 slot machines, 48 card games and 14 poker tables. When the casino opened in 2018, it had 2,500 slot machines, 93 table games and 23 poker tables.
It is poker that has recently been at the center of the attention of the casino regulatory authorities, who continue to receive complaints from players and it is not the first time.
Before the pandemic forced the casino to close in March 2020, Mgm and Encore Boston Harbor had 95 poker tables available 24/7. When the casino reopened during the summer of 2020, none of them had I initially offer poker. The third casino in the state, Plainridge Park, has only one slot machine license.
Following public complaints to the Gaming Commission, MGM has reopened its poker room in October 2021. It operates every day from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Encore has not reintroduced poker until last January and also does not offer it every day 24 hours a day.
With only 29 poker tables between two casinos, the offer is too low, said Gambling Commissioner Brad Hill: “I am still concerned about the few poker tables that have opened throughout the state. We are sending a strong message and clear to our licensee that, at least as a commissioner, I would like to see the number continue to grow as soon as possible. I think that our electorate and the citizens of Massachusetts would like to be able to play a little more poker in these structures than what is allowed to them now”.
Even if he is preparing to extend the hours for poker, Burke Cain, assistant chief game agent with the MGC, has affirmed.
In view of the continued complaints from the public, the president of the Gaming Commission Cathy Judd-Stein has suggested last week that the operators of the casinos would have to inform about poker when they will present their quarterly reports in August.
“I received, just during the weekend, another request, someone who found me using social media, a very educated message that I asked again when poker would be returned with the offer at Encore,” he said. said “This is only anecdotal, but we receive many, many requests… on the need for expanded access.”
The reason is always the same: although it is popular among gamers, poker is not very profitable for casinos. Unlike slot machines and classic table games in which players bet against the bank, in poker and casino they collect only a percentage of the stake in each hand of poker as a commission for hosting the card game. And after the Covid-19 many have preferred to file these costs. But for the movement that creates hold’em in a gambling house, this vision is decidedly myopic.
