Casino operator Wynn Resorts says it’s dropping prices at its new Massachusetts casino after admitting that its VIP focus was pricing out local gamblers.
Thursday saw the latest meeting of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC), at which Brian Gullbrants, the new president of Wynn’s Encore Boston Harbor casino, told commissioners that the property had reduced its table minimum wagers from $50 to $15 and would scrap parking fees for guests who parked their own vehicles.
Wynn’s flashy new $2.5b Boston casino opened its doors in the last week of June and quickly became the state’s gaming revenue leader, but its monthly revenue totals have now fallen for two straight months after peaking in August. Encore’s inability to gain traction with local gamblers may have contributed to the ouster of Encore’s president Robert DeSalvio in October.
New prez Gullbrants told the MGC that Encore strove to be “Greater Boston’s hometown casino” and was eliminating some of the high-roller focus that appeared to put off local gamblers. Encore plans to launch a new tiered rewards program in the new year that will benefit all classes of customers, not just the upper crust.
Encore is Wynn’s only property outside Las Vegas and Macau, and the company appears to have sorely misjudged how many high-rollers would be willing to travel to Boston to gamble. Encore also cost three times what it cost to open MGM Resorts’ Massachusetts casino, which has seen its revenue rebound in recent months after surviving Encore’s initial assault.
WYNN WINS AS SUFFOLK’S RICO LAWSUIT TOSSED
Meanwhile, this week saw a federal judge dismiss the $3b lawsuit filed against Wynn Resorts by Sterling Suffolk Racecourse (SSR), which in 2014 lost out to Wynn for the lone casino license available in the Boston-area.
SSR, the company behind the now defunct Suffolk Downs racetrack, had accused Wynn of conspiring to fix the license competition, including disguising the fact that the land on which Encore sits was purchased from a convicted felon and a former business partner of the MGC’s then-chairman.
SSR accused Wynn of civil violations of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, but US District Court Judge Patti Saris said Tuesday that Suffolk’s allegations don’t meet standards for RICO violations.
Saris said the company could pursue claims in state court but noted that SSR “has already had a fair opportunity to plead a viable set of claims but has failed to do so.” As such, her court “will not allow SSR another roll of the dice.” Following the ruling, SSR said it was “exploring all its options” for pursuing the matter further.
