Casino gaming condition in Massachusetts continues its hardship due to the Covid-19 effects. Gaming revenues have tumbled again in December 2020, plummeted operating hours and capacity restriction.
Three Massachusetts casinos Boston Harbor, Wynn Resorts’ Encore, MGM Springfield, and Plainridge Park of Penn National have reported around a $49.8M in revenue for December, falling 40.1% from the previous year’s same level. Encore was in the lead with around $29.3M. The second position was made by Springfield with $11.4M and the only slots game providing Plainridge Park observed around $9.2M.
That totalled about $15M tax revenue for Massachusetts. Springfield and Encore each gave away tax at 25% of their Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR). But at the same time, Plainridge has been taxing at higher 49% rate. It has given the slot to become the only facility to make more contribution in taxes than Encore or Springfield, introducing almost $4.94M to the state.
This remarkable revenue reduction from 2019 can be blamed on Covid-19 prohibitions and deflated number of visitors. The casinos should close at 9:30 pm since a new set of prohibiting rules were placed in the last November and a maximum capacity restriction of 25% initiated on December 26, predicted to be in the issue until the end of January 24.
Prediction on Longer Recovery Time
Those restrictions’ impact on customer sentiment is beyond imagined, but anyhow, they never seemed to hit even that 25% capacity. Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s has a Gaming Agent Division. The assistant director of this division, Bruce Band, expressed that the occupancy rate is around 19%, now peaking at 22% at MGM Springfield for a car drawing on December 26. The director said that that time of year tended to be a bit slower time of year and they were lucky with the augmented percentage by anyway.
It does not seem like an incoming rebound, not in the near future. A new mutated strain of Covid-19 has already reached Massachusetts. Gaming heads are assuming that gamblers will prefer to go online while staying at home until vaccine have to enough time to take effect.
But those who are expecting to place bets on different sports, it is seemingly a distant dream for now.