On February 1, 2022, Encore will become the second. Poker at MGM Springfield, 90 miles west of Boston, returned in October and remains the only legal and open card room in the state. The poker room, however, has remained unoccupied ever since. 'On November 4, 2021, Encore Boston Harbor announced our plan for the return live poker operations on February 1, 2022.' Staffing Concerns Limits OperationsĮncore Boston Harbor closed down at the start of the pandemic in March 2020, but the casino reopened four months later. 'The poker room was closed under COVID-19 restrictions and while it didn’t immediately return along with other gaming operations, we have always said that we would make a decision about its return before December 31, 2021,' Abrams told PokerNews. Is it all just a big conspiracy to satisfy the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, as some on social media suggested? Rosie Abrams, Encore's Executive Director for Public Relations, said otherwise.
PokerNews reached out to the casino for answers to some questions players had about Encore's poker return. But the card room will have limited tables and hours, leading many locals to wonder why it's even reopening. Encore Boston Harbor, a Wynn Resorts property in the Northeast, will reopen its poker room in February 2022 for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic.
