Encore Strike: Casino Revenue Falls 22%

The Encore Boston Harbor strike has taken a measurable bite out of the Everett casino’s business. Gross gaming revenue at the Wynn Resorts property fell 22% in September 2026 to $46.1 million, down from $59.1 million in September 2025, according to figures the Massachusetts Gaming Commission released on Oct. 20. September was the first full month of a walkout that began Sept. 4, and the state’s tax take from the casino dropped to its lowest level since early 2021.

The September numbers at a glance

Here is what the commission’s monthly data show for Encore Boston Harbor, compared with the same month a year earlier:

Gross gaming revenue: $46.1 million, down from $59.1 million, a drop of about $13 million or 22%.
State gaming taxes: about $11.5 million, down from $14.78 million in September 2025.
Slot coin-in (the total amount bet on slot machines): $354.4 million, down 20.3% from $444.4 million.
Slot revenue: $26.9 million, down 23.6%, and table game revenue: $19.1 million, down 19.8%, according to the commission’s figures as reported by RG.org.

Boston.com reported that it was Encore’s lowest monthly gross gaming revenue since February 2021, when COVID-19 restrictions were still in place. The state’s other two casinos held steady over the same period: gross gaming revenue fell 1.2% at MGM Springfield and rose 2.4% at Plainridge Park Casino, while slot coin-in rose at both.

Across all three casinos, the commission said September produced about $82.69 million in gross gaming revenue. Resort casinos such as Encore and MGM Springfield are taxed at 25% of gross gaming revenue, with the money going to specific state funds set by the 2011 gaming law.

Why the strike matters for state revenue

About 1,300 to 1,350 workers, including housekeepers, bartenders, slot attendants, servers and cashiers, walked off the job on Sept. 4 after their contract expired Aug. 31. They are represented by UNITE HERE Local 26 and Teamsters Local 25. As of Saturday, Oct. 24, the strike had reached 51 days, WCVB reported, with pickets still on Broadway in Everett.

At a commission meeting on Oct. 22, Chair Jordan Maynard said September’s payment was “the lowest remitted to the Commonwealth from Encore Boston Harbor in over five and a half years,” GBH and CBS Boston reported. GBH added that Encore’s $11.5 million in September taxes was more than $4 million below August and about $3.5 million below its average for the previous 12 months.

Gross gaming revenue covers only slot machines and table games. It does not include hotel rooms, restaurants, bars or entertainment, which the commission does not track. Caitlin Monahan, director of the commission’s Investigations and Enforcement Bureau, told commissioners that Encore has closed all of its company-operated restaurants, while vendor-run outlets stay open, and that managers and table game dealers are filling in as slot attendants and cage cashiers.

The decline also comes as Massachusetts casinos compete with online options. The Mass Lottery now sells games online and mobile sports betting keeps growing, as Boston.com noted. Our earlier report on historical horse racing machines in Massachusetts covers another part of the state’s changing gambling market.

What comes next

No end date for the strike has been announced, and the Gaming Commission is not a party to the bargaining. The commission’s next monthly revenue report, covering October, will show whether the decline continued into a second full month of the walkout. Statewide, the job market remains fairly steady: the Massachusetts unemployment rate was 4.3% in September 2026, down from 4.6% a year earlier, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED).

For more on how labor disputes are shaping local employers this fall, see our coverage of Brigham nurses rejecting Mass General Brigham’s contract offer and the Boston business and economy section of our Boston News hub.

Reactions

Commissioner Paul Brodeur called the revenue impact “substantial,” saying, “A dip of a quarter million dollars into the commonwealth’s revenue is a couple of teachers,” according to CBS Boston.

Local 26 credited the strike for the drop, posting on social media that “the house doesn’t win without their 5-star workers!” Boston.com reported. Local 26 President Carlos Aramayo told WCVB, “I would never imagine, frankly, that it would be that much of a hit.” Teamsters Local 25 President Tom Mari said in a statement that the numbers “are a reminder that a profitable casino doesn’t run on its own.”

Encore said it has put a “significant economic proposal” on the table and has been waiting weeks for the unions to resume talks, CBS Boston reported. “September’s results demonstrate why a sustainable agreement matters – not only for our employees and the thousands of jobs Encore supports, but for Massachusetts,” the casino said. The company also told Casino.org it is “open, operational and welcoming guests.”

Featured image: Encore Boston Harbor seen from the Riverwalk in Everett, September 2024. Photo by 4300streetcar via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

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Encore Boston Harbor Strike Cuts Casino Revenue 22% in September