Plainridge Park reopens to gamblers

BOSTON — Plainridge Park Casino will be the first gaming venue to open its doors following the emergency shutdown. After being closed for nearly four months, customers lined up for the reopening at 8 a.m. Wednesday.

“Yea, we’re excited,” said Lance George, Plainridge Park’s vice president and general manager, who added that it won’t be business as usual. There are a lot of changes gamblers and workers will have to adjust to for the foreseeable future.

“Certainly it was intentional to reopen at 8 a.m. in the middle of the week and give us a chance to our operational legs back underneath us,” said George.

A day before opening, the casino posted a video on its Facebook page, showing newly installed hand sanitizing stations, plexiglass dividers in between slot machines and markers on the floor measuring out 6 feet.

The casino is taking other steps to adhere to the state’s safety guidelines, including limiting the capacity on the gaming floor and limiting the number of slot machines. Only a few restaurants are open and all food and beverages can only be consumed in designated areas. Everyone is required to wear a mask and temperature checks will be taken at the door.

“We will be capturing patrons information that way should there be an outbreak and we need to contact trace, we will be a good position to do so,” said George.

He says employees will spend a fair amount of time training. The casino normally employs about 450 workers, but most were furloughed during the closure. George says they have hired back some and will likely bring back on more based on customer demand.

For now, the banquets and bars still remain closed, and it’s unclear when those could reopen.

“We don’t have an exact date,” said George. “I will tell you that around the country we have been surprised by the response and turnout and our properties have grown quicker than maybe we first initially anticipated, so I think we’re optimistic we’ll see that in this jurisdiction as well.”

Hours have changed to allow more time to clean. The casino will be open 24 hours on Friday and Saturday. The rest of the week it will be open from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Encore Boston Harbor is scheduled to reopen July 12 and MGM Springfield expects to open on July 13, both with similar precautionary measures in place.

Casinos in neighboring Rhode Island and Connecticut have already reopened.

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