MGM Springfield announced at a Thursday hearing with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission its financial results for its operations through the end of September, reporting $191 million in gaming revenue from slot machines and table games.
The revenue reported at the meeting is slightly above the $181 million the casino raked in during the same period in 2021. The casino reported $62.8 million in gaming revenue during Q1, $64.8 million for Q2, and $64 million during Q3.
MGM Springfield Vice President Augustine Kim stated that the casino is “very pleased with the way things are going”, MassLive reported.
“You can tell that we are ahead of the game for the most part from last year to this year. It took us a little bit of time to ramp up after COVID, after the pandemic, as I’m sure every other business similarly had issues, but we’re very happy with the progress we have made. And again we hope, and we expect, to continue to grow our business going forward Q4 and into 2023,” he said.
Officials also reported that at peak hours, the casino opens 36 table games with an average occupancy of four people per table. Gross gaming revenue has met and even exceeded pre-COVID revenues, according to slides presented at the meeting. The commission pushed the property to open more table games and hire more dealers over the summer.
In terms of employment, casino leaders reported a total headcount of 1,330 employees at the end of the third quarter, including 514 Springfield residents, 683 people who identified as minorities, 71 veterans and 537 women. The third quarter employment count is up from 1,244 in the second quarter and 1,203 in the first quarter, reports the cited source.
Kim pointed out that the low employment rate in Massachusetts “makes it hard to hire new workers.” However, he stated he believes they are “making a good effort”, as the company shows “a fairly large increase in Q2 to Q3”, gaining about 90 employees.
Commission Assistant Director Bruce Band said MGM continues to replace “older style” slot machines with the latest technology. “They’re converting all the slot machines in the poker room to poker slots, so the whole room will be a poker-style poker room including the slot machines,” he noted.
The report was presented at a Thursday hearing that tackled the issue of minors at the casino. The property reported 181 minors were intercepted in the gaming area and prevented from gambling in the second and third quarters, compared to 1,067 during the same period in 2019, according to data presented Thursday.
Judd-Stein said there has been resistance at MGM Springfield to installing guardrails, fencing, or ribbons around the casino floor. Kim added that the casino partnered with the commission’s Investigations and Enforcement Bureau to come up with ideas to stop minors from entering the casino floor. “But the reality is that it is an open floor, and it would be almost impossible to reduce the number to zero and that is the reality of the situation,” he noted.
