Encore Boston Poker Room Reopening
- Encore Boston Poker Room Reopening Ideas
- Encore Boston Poker Room Reopening Rules
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- Encore Boston Poker Room Reopening 2020
- Encore Boston Poker Room Reopening Date
- Encore Boston Poker Room Reopening 2020
MGM said it is still awaiting direction on whether its poker room can reopen safely. Encore’s 23-page, multi-phase plan outlines social distancing guidelines, training and use of personal. May 11, 2020 Here’s something you can bet on: When Encore Boston Harbor reopens, gambling inside the Everett casino will be different than in the pre- coronavirus pandemic era.
A Message From Mohegan Leadership
Encore Boston Harbor, owned by Wynn Resorts Ltd. (Nasdaq: WYNN) announced shortly after the governor's press conference Thursday that it expects to reopen its $2.6 billion Everett casino at 9 a.m. EVERETT (CBS) — The Encore Boston Harbor resort casino has announced it will reopen on Sunday, July 12, pending approval from state regulators. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday gave the green light for casinos and other Phase 3 businesses to begin reopening next week. Gaming Commission says no dice to poker, roulette, craps Regulators fear COVID-19 levels are still too high to expand casino offerings in Everett, Springfield By Andy Rosen Globe Staff.
First, we hope that you and your families are safe and well. The past few months have presented each of us with hardships that seemed unfathomable just a short time ago. But these hardships have also presented us with an opportunity to come together as one community. It has also made us appreciate life’s simple moments. While no one knows how long it will take for things to get back to ‘normal,’ we are here, prepared and ready to welcome you back.
Our team has tirelessly been working around the clock to develop and implement first-in-class standards and safety measures consistent with or exceeding guidelines by state and federal officials. These measures, which you will find below, have been endorsed by our Chief Medical Director and Tribal Health Department. We will continue to moderate and make changes as necessary to our procedures based off their guidance to ensure the highest level of safety for our guests and team members. This guidance and level of standards will be implemented at all seven resort destinations in North America operated and managed by Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment, some of which have already begun to reopen.
As we ramp up our next phase of reopening, which includes various openings of our dining, hotel, retail and other popular venues, we will continue to ensure we are responsible and appropriate with our approach. While we understand that the continued closure of some of these experiences may be inconvenient, we look forward to reopening them when the time is right. Our number one priority is the safety and well-being of all guests visiting Mohegan Sun as well as the health of all our passionate and dedicated team members.
We are thankful for our 6,500 team members, who are an extension of our Mohegan family, for their tireless efforts today and every day. We appreciate your continued loyalty and look forward to welcoming you back soon.
From the Mohegan Tribe, Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment and Mohegan Sun family, muykuhkukw qa wuyámukw (Be strong and be well).
See How Mohegan Sun Is Keeping You Safe
We are excited to welcome you back! It takes all of us so be sure to do your part and follow our social distancing and safety guidelines to ensure a safe, enjoyable time for you and those around you.
Please note we love welcoming guests of all ages to Mohegan Sun, but as we reopen, it is important to us to put your health and safety first.
To protect those who are most vulnerable to COVID-19, we recommend that anyone over the age of 65 or in a high-risk group please visit us at a later date when it is safer to do so. If you are visiting from out-of-state, please follow guidance from Connecticut's Travel Advisory before visiting Mohegan Sun.
Thank you for playing it safe!
Should you visit? Ask yourself these important health questions before deciding.
By Working Together, We Win Together
Do Your Part, Stay 6 Feet Apart
Maintain a safe distance of 6 feet or more from others as much as possible.
Look for signs on the floor in places where lines may form to ensure distancing
4 Aboard – To practice safe social distancing, please limit elevator passengers to 4 at a time
Plexiglass has been added to transactional locations
Every other slot machine will be available for play and seating at table games will be arranged to allow for safe distances between players
Have Good, Clean Fun
Wash your hands often
Swipe a wipe - For your safety, please sanitize your hands and wipe down your machine or table and chair before you play
Hand sanitizing stations have been added throughout the property and are available on each table game
Know Before You Go Temperature Check
A simple, non-invasive temperature check will be performed on all guests and team members as they enter the property, and protocols are in place to monitor symptoms.
- Any person with a temperature reading higher than 99.9 degrees will be re-tested to confirm
- If the reading is still high, guests will be asked to return when they feel healthy and will be reminded to follow up with their health care provider
Be Social, Be Safe
It is mandatory for guests and employees to wear masks unless eating or drinking. If you do not have a mask, security will provide one to you.
At this time, smoking will not be permitted indoors anywhere. Please use designated smoking areas outside.
Relax & Recharge
Open restaurants and bars will reduce seating to allow for physical distancing during dining and only patio or atrium seating will be provided
There will not be any self-serve or drink stations
Seasons Buffet will be closed
Safe In Your Room
Turn down service will not be offered at this time
Housekeeping will be limited on multiple night stays
The Sky Tower Pool and fitness centers are now open with limited & monitored capacity, masks must be worn unless proper social distancing is maintained, jacuzzis remain closed.
Yale New Haven Health COVID-19 Testing Site
in partnership with the Mohegan Tribe
Drive-Thru Testing Site Located at Thames Garage
Hours of Operation: Available daily from 7:30am - 5:00pm until further notice
Scheduling: Appointments are required and can be made by a physician placing an order or by utilizing our website. Answer a few questions and select an appointment time under MOHEGAN SUN THAMES GARAGE TESTING SITE
The website automatically generates an order
Who Can Get Tested?: Asymptomatic and symptomatic, all ages. If a child is under the age of 18, a parent or guardian must be present at the testing with him/her. All adults over 18 must bring a photo ID. Face masks are required. Unlimited tests per vehicle.
Billing: Insurance will be billed but we are not balance billing at this time (no cost to the patient)
Test Result Turnaround Time: Results may be available in as little as 48 hours
Test type: PCR (Swab)
Openings & Information
THE PARTIES ARE ON HOLD BUT THE FUN ISN’T
For the safety of our guests and team members, we’re doing New Year’s Eve differently this year. Though we will not be hosting our usual New Year’s Eve events, we invite you to celebrate with us throughout the holiday season. Book a safe and relaxing stay at one of our two hotel towers, dine at your favorite restaurants, browse our shops and enjoy the thrills that await you at our slot machines and table games.
Due to restricted capacities, we advise all of our guests to book their experience in advance.
What's Open?
Casino of the Sky & Casino of the Earth
Comix Roadhouse & Comedy Club
Kids Quest & Cyber Quest
Mandara Spa
Mohegan Sun Golf Club
Race Book
Sachem Lounge
Sky Hotel & Earth Tower
Sky Tower Pool
A wider range of dining and retail offerings will be opening for dine-in and take out as well as expanding hours and services! Reservations are encouraged.
What's Closed...For Now?
Box Office
Line Run and Charter Buses
Mohegan Sun Arena
Poker Room
Earth Tower Pool
Seasons Buffet
Valet Parking
Wolf Den
Encore Boston Poker Room Reopening Ideas
Both hotels are open for reservations and are adding more rooms. Reservations are open to all guests and no longer limited to local states. Some changes have been implemented to promote social distancing. Valet parking will not be available but you can still pull up to the hotel, place your luggage on a cart, and self-park your car. The Sky Tower Pool and fitness centers are now open with limited & monitored capacity. The Earth Tower pool will remain closed until further notice. Masks must be worn when entering and exiting the pool area, but may be removed unless proper social distancing cannot be maintained. The Jacuzzi will remain closed until further notice due to its small size and the inability to properly social distance. We will not be offering turndown service and housekeeping will be limited during multiple night stays. All rooms will be cleaned and disinfected according to CDC guidelines including using sanitization fogging after each stay between guests so you can settle in as soon as you arrive. Room service will be available but will be placed outside your room for you to pick up.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Casino of the Sky and Casino of the Earth are open with safety measures in place. Slot machines and chairs at tables will be limited to encourage distancing between guests. Disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizer are located throughout the property for your use to wipe down machines or tables before you play. Playing cards, dice and high touch points will be cleaned and sterilized frequently. At this time, the Poker room will remain closed.
To uphold the highest safety standards for our guests and team members, our open restaurants and bars will maintain compliance with Connecticut State guidelines. Open restaurants and bars will reduce seating to allow for physical distancing during dining, reservations are encouraged. There will not be any self-serve or drink stations. Menus, check presenters and other high touch points will be disinfected after each use. Dining rooms will have last calls for in-restaurant food service no later than 9:30pm. Please check individual dining and bar pages to stay up to date on specific changes during this time.
At this time, no smoking will be permitted indoors. Please use designated smoking areas outside and maintain physical distance from other guests.
Sachem Lounge has reopened for our Soar guests with new safety guidelines. The following rules are now in effect:
- Seating is at 50% of normal capacity as we have removed half of the tables and chairs from the lounge
- Soar access only until further notice
- Limit of 4 people total (cardholder +3) at all times
- Due to limited seating, we will have a 1 hour time limit during busy times
- All guests must have a seat as we cannot allow extra guests to be standing
- Sachem Lounge is re-opening as a non-smoking area
- Masks should be worn by all guests when not eating/drinking
ASPIRE CHECK-IN
At this time Aspire and Thirty Three are not open. In an effort to maintain the safety of our guests through social distancing and utilize our spaces wisely, Soar members and above can check-in at the Aspire Desk.
Beginning on October 9th at 9:00am VIP's & Soar members and above can check-in at the Aspire check-in area. The check-in area will be open from:
- Sunday - Thursday: 9:00am - 10:00pm
- Friday & Saturday: 9:00am - Midnight
No Aspire amenities will be available such as private concierge, valet and bell service. If a guest would like to drop off their luggage, they will be asked to pull up to the main Hotel lobby and self-park. A Bellman will be there to assist any Guest who requires assistance.
No food will be offered to any guest at check-in. Only sealed beverages such as bottled water and soft drinks will be available.
Casinos may be reopening after the Coronavirus pandemic, but questions remain about the future of live poker. Challenges lie ahead and how long it will take to return to some semblance of normalcy is unknown.
What’s the immediate future of a game that usually involves close quarters and players mutually handling casino chips? Many fans, players, and industry insiders are wondering where poker goes from here.
Players may be heading online, but many hope to be back betting, conversing, and playing with friends at an actual table soon.
Casinos begin soft reopenings
According to OnlinePokerReport, roughly 10% of the country’s casinos have reopened for business in some form. As sovereign nations, tribal casinos were some of the first to do so.
As of this Wednesday, 16 states have casinos now back open including: Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, and Washington.
Most of those are tribal operations, but Arkansas, Louisiana, and South Dakota are allowing commercial casinos to open as well. That doesn’t mean all casinos in all these states are opening. Some have chosen to remain closed longer or face individual city shutdown orders.
In California, Towers Casino in Grass Valley became one of the first card rooms in the country to reopen. Play was nine-handed with players and dealers wearing masks.
First images in from Towers Casino in Grass Valley, CA, first California cardroom to open since quarantine announced .. only 3rd poker room in US pitching cards.
9-handed play today, staff and players wearing masks. https://t.co/I6kxEGDUPOpic.twitter.com/WTpHAWEzV4
— Dan Ross (@HoldemMedia_Dan) May 19, 2020
That didn’t last long however. State law enforcement officers shut it down after only 36 hours for defying state orders.
In New Jersey, casinos remain closed with no timetable yet on reopening. The same goes for Nevada.
Many challenges ahead for live poker
Getting cards back in the air is a thorny issue. Players have to sit next to each other and all handle the chips on the table.
These aren’t actions that can be avoided. The use of masks seems likely, but other ideas that have been floated include:
- Use of gloves
- Four- or six-handed play
- Testing employees
- Avoiding congregations of players
- Taking player temperatures
The Nevada Gaming Control Board recently released a document detailing best practices for casinos reopening. One recommendation included four-hand play at poker tables and frequent card and chip cleaning.
How conducive these recommendations are to poker remains to be seen. In a time when poker rooms have been closing in recent years, will casinos be amenable to only four-handed play?
That move may reduce house rake, but also may not be of interest to players. Four-handed play wouldn’t be conducive for tournaments as well. Properties might be forced to double staff with far fewer players at the tables.
Six-handed play might at least be a better option with social distancing at tables still possible. Perhaps additional starting flights could help. But finding a perfect solution remains difficult.
Wynn Resorts has already announced its properties in Las Vegas and Boston will initially return without poker.
“We don’t in any way want to do anything we can’t execute as safely as possible,” Wynn’s Encore Boston Harbor President Brian Gullbrants told Bloomberg. “This is an evolving situation.”
A look at one poker room’s reopening plans
The Seminole Hard Rock in Tampa, Florida, announced its poker room would be open again beginning Thursday. That will include tables with the felt area completely enclosed by a plexiglass divider.
Poker is BACK this Thursday, May 21st @ 7pm! As we prepare to welcome you back, we have made essential updates to our operations including the intro of the SAFE & SOUND program that helps to keep our guests and team members safe. Visit https://t.co/bUvbb9i9FV for more details! pic.twitter.com/oXR6BL3zLI
— SHRT Poker (@SHRTPoker) May 19, 2020
Plans call for the poker room to run at 50% capacity with 23 of 46 tables in operation. Staff and guests will be required to wear masks with gloves optional. Other regulations include:
- Cards and chips cleaned on a regular basis
- Six-handed games
- Players encouraged to call ahead to play
- Notification via text of an available seat
“We look forward to having you back knowing that your and our team member safety is the number one priority,” the property’s website notes.
Players and others in the industry will be watching to see the results of efforts like the Hard Rock’s.
Tournament series still unsure of future
Beyond simply opening live poker rooms, tournament organizers face even more daunting challenges. The very nature of a tournament many people gathered at tables.
Large fields produce large prize pools, which tend to bring in even more players. The World Series of Poker announced in April that the annual Las Vegas series was postponed to the fall.
That move’s effect on the number of events and entries remains to be seen. With international travel limited and millions of Americans out of work, a big dip in attendance is likely.
The World Poker Tour has also postponed several events and is in a similar waiting pattern. Three events (Gardens Poker Championship, Borgata Winter Poker Open, and LA Poker Classic) also still have final tables yet to be played and filmed for TV in Las Vegas.
Encore Boston Poker Room Reopening Rules
WPT executive tour director Matt Savage spoke with USPoker about the future of live poker after the pandemic. He believes tournament poker will return, but the industry can learn a lot from the current climate.
“First of all I know that poker will return someday to as it was before,” he says, “only this time with a better understanding of hygiene, sanitation, and the newfound knowledge of how to cough and sneeze correctly with strong reminders from other players and employees if you forget.”
Months of waiting still ahead for tournament players
As for the WPT, Savage says the tour simply awaits casino partners to open the doors. However, that will only happen when they feel it’s safe for customers and players to travel to tournament venues.
“I don’t see four-handed being a feasible option, and if that’s the case I know that some rooms will not open when casinos do and sadly may never reopen,” he says. “But honestly, I’ve felt some consolidation has been needed for some time to make the strong rooms more solid and create more action and better dealing jobs.”
As for a time frame for returning, Savage believes the long game looks like the only option.
“Live poker will return months before poker tournaments,” he says, “and local tournaments will happen before tournaments that require traveling players.”
Online poker continues to roll in big ways
Players looking for tournaments will continue to look online. April produced record numbers for legal, regulated online poker in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.
That comes after the previous records were set in March. New Jersey topped $5 million in online poker revenue for the first time in April.
Pennsylvania topped that with $5.2 million. PokerStars, partypoker, and WSOP.com have run numerous series capitalizing on players at home. Gamblers shut out of sports betting and other casino betting have taken to the virtual poker tables.
Revenue numbers aren’t available in Nevada, but there’s a good chance that state is seeing record numbers as well. WSOP.com remains the only operator in the state.
Sweepstakes poker sites like Global Poker and ClubWPT have also seen huge fields.
Boston Poker Club
These trends look to continue in May and WSOP.com, GlobalPoker, and partypoker all have series currently underway. In Pennsylvania, PokerStars held the major one-off “Pennsylmania” event on Sunday.
Encore Boston Poker Room Reopening 2020
The $200 buy-in tournament came with a record $250,000 guarantee, which was smashed with a $515,964 prize pool. Pennsylmania ultimately produced 2,774 entries with 1,760 players and 1,014 re-entries.
This online success extends to international online poker operators. With most live poker still on lockdown, more players will continue to look online for their action.
Encore Boston Poker Room Reopening Date
For a complete look at this week’s US online poker action, click here.