Encore Boston Harbor, Massachusetts’ newest and biggest casino is challenging a local news report that it’s laying off 70 staff members after failing to meet its gaming revenue forecasts.
Boston’s local Fox affiliate reported on Tuesday, that Wynn Resorts’ showy $2.6b Encore Boston Harbor casino was cutting around 70 non-union staff, whose last day on the job was supposed to come next Friday. Encore supposedly held a job fair for affected employees on Monday.
Even worse, many of the affected employees working behind the scenes filling drink orders for cocktail servers will supposedly be replaced by automated drink dispensers, also called robots. Last spring as part of its plan to decrease 3% of its payroll, Wynn rival MGM Resorts made a similar announcement.
As reported by calvinayre.com, Encore Boston replied to the report by evading any confirmation of job cuts, however, would say it would “continue to right size our business” while doing their best to find affected staff a new gig. Encore also said its new drink-serving robots would “significantly improve both the speed of service and provide a better guest experience.”
Wynn officials told Boston.com on Wednesday, that “it has been inaccurately reported that 70 positions have been eliminated and/or replaced by automated beverage dispensers.” However, the statement didn’t give any specifics to counter these claims, saying only that it “cannot project the number of positions that will be impacted.”
Late June Encore opened with great hullabaloo; however, the buzz subsided quickly, on the gaming floor at least. In August the property’s gaming revenue increased and then fell every month through October. Revenue staged a slight rebound in November after the casino decreased its table game minimum bets from $50 to just $15 after seemingly realizing that there were not that many high-rollers in the greater Boston area.
