Casino gambling regulators in Massachusetts held a hearing last Thursday that featured some critical comments about the state of live poker cash games in the Bay State.
It’s not the first-time officials have commented on growing resentment among some poker players in the state that live poker hasn’t returned to what it was like pre-pandemic.
According to comments from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, there is still some lingering displeasure about the number of tables available between the state’s two Las Vegas-style casinos, both of which opened a handful of years ago.
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“A lot of people love to play this game and they’re very disappointed that we only have, if I’m doing this right, 27 tables throughout the entire commonwealth,” Commissioner Brad Hill said.
“Just disappointed is all I can say at this point,” he added.
The COVID-19 pandemic shuttered both casinos and their respective poker rooms in mid-2020, and the offering hasn’t fully recovered since despite the availability of vaccines.
Regulators were also a bit critical of the operating hours.
Encore previously considered closing the room permanently, which received some pushback from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission in 2021. But reopened them in February 2022.
Statewide, there’s roughly a quarter of the tables there once was. MGM Springfield opened its poker room in 2018 with 23 tables, while Encore opened in 2019 with 74 tables.
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