Massachusetts casinos facing worst month amid COVID-19 crisis

Revenue at Plainridge Park Casino, MGM Springfield, and Encore Boston Harbor  —the three casinos in Massachusetts— nose-dived in March as the coronavirus pandemic took hold.

On March 15, the facilities agreed with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to temporarily shut down in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19, the Boston Globe reports. All three casinos had about $35 million in gambling revenue from March 1 to March 15.

Though the circumstances make the casinos’ performance in the first half of the month difficult to compare with other periods, the March totals were smaller than in any other month in which all three casinos were operating. That includes last June, the month in which Encore opened in Everett and operated for only a week.

But the totals for April are certain to be the worst yet. The casinos are closed at least until May 4, which means none of them will be able to bring in any gambling revenue this month.

The relatively new industry in Massachusetts has been among the hardest hit, even in the hospitality sector that is being pummeled by the social-distancing measures that make many leisure activities impossible.

Amid the shutdown, the owners of MGM Springfield and Plainridge Park have placed huge swaths of their workforces on furlough. Encore Boston Harbor says it will keep all of its full- and part-time employees on its payroll through May 15.