Wynn’s Encore Boston Harbor Reopens on July 12

Wynn’s Massachusetts property, the Encore Boston Harbor, will reopen on Sunday, July 12, in line with all necessary health and safety measures.

Encore Boston Announces Reopening Plans

Shortly after revealing plans to furlough as many as 3,000 staff members, Encore Boston Harbor added on Thursday that the property will reopen on Sunday, July 12, giving the hotel a week to prepare.

This comes as Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has revealed Phase 3 of the state’s reopening plans, which is kicking off on Monday, July 6. Phase 3 means that gyms, movie theatres, and casinos may reopen after they were originally shuttered in mid-March.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) has argued that restarting plans for the state’s casinos will be some of the strictest in the country, too. To comply with safety measures, Encore Boston will shut down a good deal of its slot machines and enforce social distance.

The casino’s statement outlined its plans to allow players to return to the casino floor as naturally as possible:

“Every effort has been made to preserve Encore’s luxury experience and provide guests with the peace of mind needed to enjoy a fun and relaxing return.”

As one of the flagship hotels in the state, Encore has every reason to want a quick return back to normality. The project cost a whopping $2.3 billion and is the most expensive property of its kind to have been introduced to the state.

Yet, since March 15, all operations have been suspended to help deter the spread of the novel coronavirus, which continues to go up across the state. The commission has already established basic guidelines for casinos to follow in their reopening.

Introducing Safety Measures to Protect Patrons and Employees

As a result, all casinos returning from lockdown will have to introduce thermal cameras and take staff and patrons’ temperature upon arrival. All people on the premises will need to wear a face mask to further minimize the potential for the spread of the infection.

Encore Harbor said that its cleaning staff will make sure to disinfect all high-traffic areas and machines hourly and use disinfectant guns that will disburse cleaning products. The casino is further adding plexiglass protectors between table games and any restaurants to restart, whether they are part of the casino or not, will no longer be allowed to use printed menus, but rather QR codes or any other digital form of a menu.

Massachusetts has managed to flatten the curve and see a stall in the progression of infectious rates, but nationally, COVID-19 cases are in an upswing. A Laughlin casino was forced shut only two weeks after restarting, and so have been many others.

Encore Boston would benefit from a seamless restart whereby all health and safety measures are enacted and no-one on the premise gets infected with the novel coronavirus. Asymptomatic individuals remain a danger, but Encore Boston seems excited to welcome patrons back.