Wynn Everett Poker
Encore Everett
The Wynn Spring Classic $1,600 buy-in NLH $1,000,000 GTD attracted a total of 687 entrants, and after five days of play. PokerNews.com is the world's leading poker website. Among other things.
- Encore Boston Harbor, the $2.6 billion Everett casino opening Sunday morning, has more gaming space than Wynn Las Vegas and Encore Las Vegas combined. The two-level casino has 3,100 slot machines.
- The Wynn Spring Classic $1,600 buy-in NLH $1,000,000 GTD attracted a total of 687 entrants, and after five days of play. PokerNews.com is the world's leading poker website. Among other things.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation gave approval to Wynn Resorts to continue building their $1.7 billion casino in Everett, a suburb of Boston. MassDot had been signaling the gaming company’s casino development might break Massachusetts environmental laws.
J. Lionel Lucien on the Casino
In an August 21 memo, MassDot public-private development unit manager J. Lionel Lucien gave his endorsement to Steve Wynn’s plans for the development. The Boston Globe quoted Lucien as saying, “We believe that no further environmental review need be required based on transportation issues.”
Mr. Lucien said he understands underlying concerns about traffic congestion and suggested MassDot plans to continue to work with the Las Vegas casino company and “other interested stakeholders to address longer-term mitigation issues.”
Lucien sent an 8-page memo to the Matthew Beaton of the Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary. Beaton is expected to give his rulings on the same issue on August 28.
Maura Healey Stands in the Way
The Department of Transportation’s approval is not the final word, though. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is still in opposition to the development plan. She wants to delay approval until traffic congestion issues are resolved.
Recently, the AG said in the Boston Globe, that Everett and Wynn Resorts need a “long-term traffic solution to address the projected traffic that will impact the surrounding areas when the integrated casino resort starts operating.”
Charlestown Traffic Is an Issue
Wynn Everett Poker Room
The city of Boston is reported to still have issues with the prospective plans Wynn Resorts have for Sullivan Square and Rutherford Avenue. Maura Healey happens to be a long time resident of Charlestown, so she considers the congestion problems to be a particular issue of hers.
She recently sent a public memo which said, “This dangerous and congested set of roadways may be unfamiliar to many state residents, but it serves as a major regional transit hub and access point.”
Healey and other Bostonians are also concerned about potential traffic congestion at the juncture where the Charlestown neighborhood meets Interstate 93 just beyond the North End of Boston. The area is near several local landmarks and is a key entry point into Boston proper, so traffic congestion would create a chokepoint for traffic heading north-south for many miles.
Wynn: We Won’t “Solve Decades-Long Traffic Issues”
Last week, Steve Wynn responded to Healey’s memo by saying Wynn Resorts’ mitigation plan is reasonable, but he was not prepared to bargain over unreasonable demands. He suggested that the Massachusetts Department of Justice is trying to bilk his company for improvements to longstanding traffic problems.
In his reply, Steve Wynn said Massachusetts “requires that we mitigate our traffic impacts, not solve decades-long traffic issues which pre-date our project.”
$850 Million in Mitigation Costs
Wynn Resorts has pledged to pay $850 million in various taxes, mitigation payments, and transportation improvements over the next 15 years. $210 million of the $850 milion will go to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, as well as community mitigation.
Of the rest of the money pledged, $206 million is expected to go to transportation enhancements. The enhancements package includes a Orange Line (subway) subsidy, a shuttle system, and water transport. Also, the $850 million in mitigation costs are also supposed to pay for road infrastructure improvements to the tune of $56 million to $76 million.
Playing Ball in the Northeast
Steve Wynn’s foray into New England gaming has received a great deal of push-back from local politicians. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has sided with Wynn Resorts at several steps along the way, but most other politicians have been against Wynn’s vision. Even the gaming commissioner has been attacked for his support, as he currently is undergoing an ethics review by a state ethics committee.
Meanwhile, the Wynn Everett has been the subject of several lawsuits and corruption investigations. One of the men who sold the land for the Wynn casino was personal friends of the gaming commissioner, while another of the men was a convicted criminal who was suspected of ties to organized crime. Meanwhile, Marty Walsh does not like the mitigation fees or the disruption to traffic Wynn Everett is likely to cause. The City of Boston is currently embroiled in a mitigation lawsuit with Wynn.
This might have been foreseen by Steve Wynn, but the gaming regulators of Nevada tend to be a great deal more casino-friendly. Of course, Steve Wynn has dealt with officials in the Beijing government, who are currently trying to clean up the Macau casino industry, so Wynn might view the Massachusetts politicians as a breath of fresh air.
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Mass Gaming Commission praises resort on new misconduct policies
By JOSH RESNEK
In Las Vegas, a group of restaurants owned by Wynn Resorts is reopening this week with restrictions, a sure sign that some sense of normalcy is returning to the Strip.
Who and how many people will come to the restaurants are big questions as many of them cater to the millions of visitors that come to the desert for relaxation and fun.
Also, key are the business meetings and conventions held in Las Vegas which fill the restaurants with attendees, none of which will be happening any time soon – not at least until the end of the summer or later, according to reports in the Las Vegas Sun published this weekend.
Much of the news and the speculation is the same for Encore Boston Harbor in Everett which has been closed since mid-March.
Encore and MGC officials have been communicating but no date for reopening has yet been discussed or set.
In the meantime, the MGC gave Encore and Wynn officials a mostly glowing report as it evaluated the operator’s efforts and policies to limit sexual misconduct at the Encore property in Everett and throughout the company.
This came as a result of the law firm Miller & Chevalier’s 127-page report being reviewed by the MGC at last week’s meeting. Miller & Chevalier lawyers spent close to three hours detailing the results of its report on the monitoring of Wynn CEO Matt Maddox and his team.
That report and its finding are partly the result of the $35 MGC million fine Wynn Resorts was forced to pay to get its license and further stipulations for the company to change its culture which the MGC insisted upon.
The effort was intended to end the company’s complicity in covering up sexual misconduct allegations against founder and former chairman and CEO Steve Wynn.
To that end, a $500,000 penalty was levied against Maddox, along with the requirements that he and high-ranking executives be monitored by Miller & Chevalier at company expense. The year of monitoring resulted in a tab of $830,000, well above the original estimate of $575,000 to $775,000.
Upon agreeing to a monitoring program last year, Maddox appeared fine with it, saying that in the gaming business, someone is always watching, whether it’s customers, employees, or regulators.
The Miller & Chevalier monitoring submission wasn’t confined to Wynn’s efforts to prevent sexual harassment issues. It also included financial comments on the health of the Everett Encore property, noting that some executives are concerned about the venue’s slow start and the time it’s taking to fully ramp the property up.
Likewise, employees interviewed by the law firm are worried that the operator isn’t supporting Encore Boston Harbor the way it is its two Macau and two Las Vegas integrated resorts.
The property notched just eight full months of business before being shuttered in mid-March by the coronavirus pandemic. During that period, the company was earning about $50 million in gambling revenues per month. Before the casino opened, gambling analysts estimated that Encore would earn about $800 million a year or about $200 million less yearly than estimated when the casino closed down in March because of the virus.
Employees are concerned that Encore’s promise to pay them, which runs out at the end of May, will lead to layoffs, furloughing and to a much smaller staff. Massachusetts casinos remain closed, and while the MGC is reviewing plans to reopen those venues, the regulator extended the closure period three times. Industry observers are saying Bay State gaming properties will likely be the last to reopen in the US, as MGC isn’t giving a ballpark estimate as to when that will happen.
As part of its plans submitted to the MGC, Wynn said it will eliminate poker and only offer craps in the VIP area of the casino.