Gamblers in Massachusetts are going to have to alter their schedules if they plan on making late-night casino runs. Starting this Friday, the state’s three commercial casinos will no longer be accessible after 9:30 PM each day because of COVID-19. A reappearance of the virus is forcing the state to take measures to keep it from spreading further, and Encore Boston Harbor, MGM Springfield and Plainridge Park are all going to suffer as a result. 

The three casinos were forced to close this past March because of the coronavirus and didn’t reopen until July. Since then, they have been operating at greatly reduced capacities as they tried to get back on solid ground, and the new order by Governor Charlie Baker is going to be a huge step backward. However, with a 278% increase in new coronavirus cases since Labor Day in September, something has to be done to keep things from getting out of control again. 

The gambling facilities will, as of this Friday, be forced to shut down at 9:30 PM and remain closed until 5 AM the following morning. This is because Barker has issued a stay-at-home advisory that limits travel to only “essential activity” between 5 AM and 10 PM, and gambling is not included on the list. The commercial casinos were only just getting back on their feet when the new order came down, and all of the gains they saw recently will be undone. 

In September, the three venues reported gross gaming revenue (GGR) of $70.5 million – not bad, considering they were only operating at about 50% their normal capacity. That figure is roughly 87% of what had been seen a year earlier, and shows the pent-up desire to gamble that had been percolating in Massachusetts during the previous shutdown.