The big opening day of the Encore Boston Harbor, Wynn Resorts big new casino in Massachusetts, is on June 23 and coming fast. Why is it being held on a Sunday you ask? Because Wynn is apparently very worried about traffic being a concern.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports the resort has undergone its final checklist by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) on June 12, with all of its machines, tables and everything else inspected. Now the focus is on making June 23 go very smoothly, but just getting there might be the hardest part.
Robert DeSalvio, President of the resort, reportedly told the MGC they chose to hold the Grand Opening on a Sunday to avoid congestion on local streets and highways. They’ve also spent $1 million in “transportation marketing and advertising.”
Anyone planning to visit the resort is encouraged not to drive, they say, and they are pushing visitors to use public transportation, bicycles, shuttle busses, harbor shuttles, or to just plain walk.
The major concern over traffic is due to the location of the Encore Boston Harbor. It’s located in Everett, a suburb just outside of downtown Boston, across the Mystic river. The MGC and Wynn have not had to deal with such a major resort opening in a downtown area before, so they are a bit scared of how its going to turn out.
“By going at 10 a.m., we were trying to think about the heat of the day,” DeSalvio told commissioners. “We wanted the opening to occur in the morning so that if people were going to line up it would be early in the morning before it got too hot. We’re trying to be cognizant of public safety in particular.”
DeSalvio will be hoping this is the last potential hurdle for his resort, which has faced more than its fair share. Wynn Resorts had to hope really hard that the MGC would not revoke their license for the sexual harassment case against its former leader, Steve Wynn. They also had to pay a $35 million fine to the regulator to make the problem go away.
