LINCOLN, R.I. (WPRI/AP) — With Massachusetts’ third casino now open for business, Rhode Island officials are expecting a shift in the state’s gaming and revenue projections.
Thousands of patrons flocked to Everett on Sunday for the grand opening of Wynn Resort’s “Encore Boston Harbor,” a waterfront casino complex years in the making.
The facility, which features a 671-room, bronze-toned hotel tower, a gambling floor with 3,100 slot machines and 231 table games, 15 bars and restaurants, shops, and lavish art displays, sits on 33 acres of formerly industrial land along the Mystic River. It was billed Sunday as an opportunity to finally transform the reputation of a city of more than 46,000 located just north of Boston.
According to Rhode Island’s gaming and state revenue report, experts project the new casino’s impact on the state “will be modest as gross gaming revenues and the state’s share of those revenues increase from the fiscal year in which Encore opens through fiscal year 2024.”
The report said this is mostly due to the offsetting impact of expanded sports betting in Rhode Island. According to the report, Encore will take away approximately $38 million in revenue away from Twin River’s two casinos during that time frame.
A spokesperson for Twin River declined to comment, but executives there have previously told Eyewitness News their bigger concern in Massachusetts is whether officials will ever approve a casino in Southeastern Massachusetts, which remains a possibility.
