Restrictions on drinking part of plans to reopen casinos

BOSTON -- Regulators at the Massachusetts Gaming Commission finalized their minimum health and safety standards for the reopening of the state's slots parlor and two resort casinos Tuesday, giving licensees almost two weeks to prepare to comply with some requirements they were not thrilled with.

The commission had already settled on a number of requirements last week -- no poker, craps or roulette until further notice, blackjack-style gaming tables will be capped at three players, and players must wear something to cover their nose and mouth upon entry and while in the gaming area, except to have a drink -- but ironed out the final details before unanimously adopting the guidelines Tuesday.

Plainridge Park Casino in Plainville, MGM Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor in Everett have all been closed since March 15 and, as part of Phase 3 of the state's reopening framework, cannot reopen until July 6 at the absolute earliest. Casino gambling has resumed in Las Vegas, Connecticut and other states around the country, and the Gaming Commission has been studying how those jurisdictions have fared.

There were four issues left unresolved going into Tuesday's meeting: how to enforce the commission's plan to limit drink service to people actively gambling, which would be an exception to the mask rule; how to best ensure either appropriate distance or a physical barrier between slot machines; what height the physical barriers at tables must be; and how to set overall building occupancy limits.

Commissioners agreed that players will not be allowed to carry or drink a beverage while moving around on the gaming floor and that the licensees must make all reasonable efforts to ensure guests do not violate that rule.

Loretta Lillios, deputy director and chief enforcement counsel of the commission's Investigations and Enforcement Bureau, said some of the licensees had been concerned that, without the language about "reasonable efforts," the guidance would have "set a strict liability standard so if a guest does get up and moves to another machine or another table and forgets about leaving the drink behind, that there is a de facto violation on the part of the licensee regardless of any best efforts."

Some commissioners said they were concerned that allowing guests to walk around with a drink in hand would be too similar to a bar, which are not allowed to open until Phase 4 of the state's reopening. The commission weighed the issue of guests moving about with drinks for more than half an hour, and commissioners said they could understand arguments on both sides.

"We don't want the unintended consequence of someone guzzling the drink because they'd like to move and they know they can't walk with it. So I do not want that to be an unintended consequence," Commissioner Gayle Cameron said. "I see both sides, frankly. I don't want people to use this as a way to just drink because they can't do so in a bar."

Seth Stratton, vice president and general counsel of MGM Springfield, told the commission that his company understands not wanting to have gamblers lowering their masks to drink a beverage while walking around the gaming floor, but does not see the wisdom behind barring guests from simply carrying their drink to another gaming position.

"Walking around with a drink, that's a bit more challenging for us and harder to understand the public health concern of someone with a mask on carrying their drink from one position to another without consuming that drink," he said. "That's probably where our biggest challenge lies."

Commission Chairwoman Cathy Judd-Stein reminded the licensees that the guidelines finalized Tuesday will govern the reopening of casinos and will likely be updated as time goes on. While complimentary drink service is a standard amenity at casinos, she said operators should make sure their guests understand ahead of time that the COVID-19 pandemic means the casino experience will not necessarily be the same as it was before the crisis.

"Every patron who comes in the door will understand, because of the communications plans, that this is an exciting opportunity to re-engage but it's under very different conditions because we are in a pandemic," she said, referring to the public communications plans each facility is required to develop ahead of reopening. "Things are going to be different."

The commission also agreed Tuesday to require that there be either six feet of distance between active slot machines or that the licensees install a plexiglass or similar barrier at least six feet high between machines. That was another point of contention with the licensees, who said it has been difficult to try to find vendors who can supply acrylic walls in the size required.

Plainridge Park Casino said it had gone back to its Plexiglass vendor to have them re-engineer the partitions to be at least six feet in height. Encore Boston Harbor said the standard size it has seen is 5 feet 5 inches tall, and that acquiring 6-foot sections would just take longer.

But Stratton said that MGM Springfield was "the furthest behind in terms of procurement for plexi" and that the global gaming company generally is not using plexiglass barriers between slot machines in other states, rather opting to disable every other machine and require players to wear a face covering.

He said the casino will have to consider all of its options for reopening as it begins to look into obtaining plexiglass barriers of the right height.

"There are some challenges when one jurisdiction or one property is different than others and our company is striving for as much universal programming of our safety plan throughout the company," he said. "We've certainly started exploring and will explore procurement of plexi and see if the business case can be made to expand, but I think based on the requirement we will probably be forced to open, or we would need to open with simply the six foot distance [between active machines] which is a significant reduction in the number of machines, which correlates to reduced revenue."

Stratton added, "I don't think we're presently prepared to be open in July with plexi on slot machines, so we would have a significant reduction in our offerings."

For table games, plexiglass barriers separating dealers and players, and players from other players, will have to be at least 5 feet 10 inches high. The commission agreed that 5 feet 10 inches was acceptable after Encore Boston Harbor Senior Vice President Jacqui Krum said that was the maximum height her company was able to achieve when it fashioned its own partitions in-house.

For occupancy limits, the commission settled on a formula that will count the number of active gaming positions available, multiply it by three, and then add in the number of gaming floor area employees and the capacity of casino amenities like restaurants, as calculated by existing state reopening regulations.

Commissioners and commission staff reminded licensees Tuesday that the guidelines from the Gaming Commission could be supplemented by additional requirements put in place by the governor's reopening advisory board. The commission and casinos are eyeing Monday, July 6 as the potential reopening day, but only if the governor clears Phase 3 to start on that date.