I mean, I've never heard of such a thing. Howard: That's a lot of money, especially for Everett. I got to look at some of the hotel rooms and, sure, they're pretty nice and they've got a sweeping view, but they're going for about $650 a night. LeMoult: Yeah, a lot of this is not coming cheap.

Howard: It sounds like there's a lot of ways to lose money besides the slot machines.

It was pretty loud and pretty impressive. They spent $2 million on just the sound and light system. The nightclub that's here is going to be bringing in celebrity DJ's. There's also stuff coming from pretty far away as well, including a steakhouse that imports Kobe beef from Japan. On the tour today, we were actually greeted there by the president of Harpoon Brewery, who was there. There's a bar that only serves local beers. At the north end of the gaming floor is a restaurant called Fratelli, which is run by two restaurateurs from Boston's North End, Nick Varano and Frank DePasquale. LeMoult: A ton of restaurants, actually, and they did really make an effort to kind of create some local flavor. I recall that some of the top talent for Boston's restaurants have been siphoned off to go work at the casino. Howard: And you did mention there are a lot of restaurants. The slots are surrounded by 140 gaming tables roughly, and there's a second floor around the gaming floor for some of the higher stakes table games that are up there. And those machines are not beeping now - that’s one thing I can't tell you, is what it's going to sound like, how loud it's actually going to be. That area has a two-story ceiling, so it actually feels pretty open, not too claustrophobic. The gaming floor is about 210,000 square feet, with more than 3,000 slot machines.

This really feels much more like a destination resort. You know, I covered the opening of the slots parlor in Plainville and the MGM Resorts casino in Springfield. There's a hotel, and outdoor space as well. There are restaurants, and nightclubs, and bars and retail shops. And while there is a casino here - and a big one at that - it does actually feel like there's a lot more to it than that. WGBH News' Craig LeMoult was at the casino on Friday and spoke with WGBH's All Things Considered anchor Barbara Howard about what’s expected for opening weekend.īarbara Howard: So what are your initial impressions? I know you were given a tour.Ĭraig LeMoult: Yeah, it is enormous. After years of public hearings, legal battles, construction and other challenges, the Encore Boston Harbor casino in Everett is set to open its doors on Sunday.

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