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Dealer shortage makes it hard to reintroduce poker right now at a casino in an East Coast state and city. Even if some guests do demand it. That would require the casino to close other tables games. This is what the executive told the Gaming Commission.

Normal Operations

The Boston, MA‘s two casinos, the Encore Boston Harbor and MGM Springfield, have resumed mostly normal operations in late May. This may be without reintroducing poker. In fact, the Boston Gaming Commission has, in fact, taken obvious notice of the 10-fold increase in complaints about the game’s absence in the Bay State. Moreover, the casinos have both said they will continue making decisions about the future of poker by the end of the year.

Dealer Shortage: Guest Demand and Limited Space

“Thus, To be clear and specific, we did not say never to poker. Therefore, we have said just not at this time. In fact, we are continuously readjusting our offerings based on the guest demand,” Jacqui Krum. Krum is Encore Boston Harbor’s senior vice president and general counsel. She also added, “Throughout this difficult time, we have really tried to be, more flexible and responsive. However, there is really limited space. The former poker area is presently occupied by some of our top-performing slot machines.”

Like many other businesses around the country, the Everett casino has had a hard time finding people to hire for any open positions. In fact, Krum said Encore “just cannot find enough dealers” or other workers. Moreover, it has been running dealer schools “almost non-stop.”

Labor Crunch

“Because of this labor crunch, reopening poker right would necessitate the closure of other table games. Moreover, we don’t have the staff available to do both,” she said. “There is an impact of these changes to our valued guests. It would include our poker players. In fact, if we could, we would add another floor to the casino, we definitely would.”