Experts Predict That Encore Boston Harbor Will Not Reintroduce Live Poker Anytime Soon

Richard McGowan, a Boston College professor who monitors patterns of gambling in New England, says that Encore Boston Harbor still not resuming live poker is not surprising. “Poker never really drew the type of audience that could make it profitable,” said McGowan.

McGowan says that the average visitor at Plainridge Park Casino or MGM Springfield isn’t a poker player.

When Massachusetts gambling establishments were closed due to Covid, poker games were suspended. After the reopening, poker wasn’t available.

MGM Springfield and Encore players lodged grievances over the removal of poker, according to State House News Service.

It makes no economic sense to resell it in the casino. McGowan added that the area where poker was played might have been far more successfully employed for table games or extra slots.

Meanwhile, blackjack gamers in Massachusetts who filed a lawsuit against MGM Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor lost last month at the Supreme Judicial Court.

The plaintiffs claimed that the casinos were paying out worse odds than authorized by state rules under the supervision of the MGC. As a result, the house edge was unlawfully expanded. All of them had won games at odds of 6/5 instead of 3/2.

The plaintiffs stated that it was unlawful in Massachusetts to provide 6/5 blackjack and that the casinos should have paid out at 3/2. The court said that this would allow the winners $150 on a $100 bet, as compared to $120 on the lower-stakes tables.

A panel of judges concluded that gamblers were aware of the regulations when they sat down to play and thus could not utilize the legal system to alter their gains.

“We find that the plaintiffs comprehended the rules and the stakes, and we accord deference to the commission’s interpretation,” the justices wrote. “As a result, the plaintiffs lose this last bet.”