When It Comes To Wynn Boston Harbor, Big Isn’t Good Enough

Written By Steve Ruddock on October 20, 2017 - Last Updated on January 27, 2023
Jeff Koons Popeye statue at Wynn

[toc]June 2019.

That’s when Wynn Boston Harbor is slated to open its doors.

The ambitious project will be the third casino to open its doors in the Bay State, and at a total cost of $2.4 billion, it will be by far the biggest.

In true Steve Wynn fashion, it will also be the grandest, with the usual Wynn flair for the dramatic on full display, as seen in these renderings from the Wynn Boston Harbor website.

The resort casino will also feature:

  • An “ultra-premium” spa
  • A six-acre public park
  • A “living” shoreline
  • Three water shuttles to ferry guests across Boston Harbor

“We’ll be running them pretty much all day long,” Wynn Boston Harbor President Robert DeSalvio told MassLive.com. “It’ll be a great way for people to not get into a car. They’ll be able to just jump right on the water shuttle and come right to our door. I think it’ll be a very comfortable and exciting ride.”

The casinos keep getting bigger…

Wynn Boston Harbor will be the apex predator in the Massachusetts casino market.

Here’s a quick glimpse at how the three properties compare to one another.

Plainridge Park Casino

Plainridge Park Casino boasts

  • 1,250 slots
  • two sit-down restaurants, Flutie’s Sports Pub and Slack’s Oyster Bar, and a food court

Plainridge has 550 permanent employees, earning nearly $18 million in wages annually.

MGM Springfield

MGM Springfield sits on 16 acres of land in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts.

The casino will have:

  • 3,000 slots
  • 100 table games
  • 23-table poker room
  • An unknown number of restaurants
  • 250 hotel rooms

MGM Springfield is expected to create about 3,000 permanent jobs.

Wynn Boston Harbor

Wynn Boston Harbor has a 33-acre footprint, with the main casino building alone sitting on 13 acres of land.

The casino will boast:

  • 2,500 slots
  • 150 table games
  • a 90+ table poker room
  • 13 restaurants
  • 671 hotel rooms

The casino will employ 4,000 people, and will have an annual payroll of $170 million.

… And more expensive to build

Plainridge Park in Plainville, Massachusetts was transformed into Plainridge Park Casino at a cost of $250 million. After the expansion and renovations, the harness racing and simulcast facility added slot machines and opened in June 2015.

MGM Springfield will open in September 2018. The project has an estimated price tag of $950 million, nearly quadrupling the cost of Plainridge Park.

As grand as MGM’s building will be, at an estimated cost of $2.4 billion, Wynn Boston Harbor will cost 2.5-times MGM Springfield, and nearly 10-times as much as Plainridge.

Photo by Kobby Dagan / Shutterstock.com

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Steve Ruddock

Steve Ruddock is a veteran of the poker media, contributing to offline and online publications centered on the regulated US online gambling industry. These include OnlinePokerReport.com, PlayNJ.com, USPoker.com as well as USA Today. Steve is based in Massachusetts and is also a poker player.

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