Massachusetts' first casino poker room will open In August

A nearly $1 billion casino from MGM Resorts will open in Springfield, Mass. on August 24, the company said in a press release. It will be the state’s first Las Vegas-style casino and could be for some time if Wynn Resorts’ tainted casino outside Boston is delayed.

Ground was officially broken on MGM Springfield in March 2015, but the project was delayed after MGM redesigned the property. Construction restarted the following year.

MGM is rumored to be interested in what is now called Encore Boston Harbor, a name change that came from Steve Wynn’s fall from grace thanks to sexual misconduct allegations that surfaced earlier this year in a report from The Wall Street Journal. That casino comes with a price tag of $2.4 billion, more than double MGM Springfield’s $960 million.

The Springfield property will include a 125,000-square-foot gaming floor with about 2,550 slot machines, 120 gaming tables, a poker room and high-limit VIP gaming area. The poker room will include 23 tables, but that’s only a fraction of the 90 that Encore Boston Harbor is eyeing.

The Bay State doesn’t currently have any regulated poker rooms, as players historically have had to travel to casinos in neighboring states to find games other than home games.

MGM Springfield had previously planned for 20 tables.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission said on Twitter late last year that MGM’s move to boost its poker room was designed to accommodate [an] emerging gaming trend for [a] more interactive/communal experience" among millennials.