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Encore Boston Harbor took in $16.9 million in gaming revenue during opening week

People filled the casino floor at Encore Boston Harbor during the grand openingJessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff/Globe Staff

Maybe the house doesn’t always win, but it wins often enough to pad state coffers.

Case in point: the Encore Boston Harbor, which raked in $16.7 million in gaming revenue in its opening week last month, paying out $4.1 million in taxes, according to figures released Monday by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.

The Encore tally beat out the June revenue total for Plainridge Park Casino in Plainville, which took in $13.5 million for the entire month. The MGM Grand Springfield collected $19.9 million.

According to the commission, the Plainridge facility coughed up $6.6 million in taxes in June, while MGM forked over $4.9 million to the state.

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Plainridge, a Category 2 slot parlor, is taxed at 49 percent of its gross gaming revenue, while the Encore and the MGM, both Category 1 resort casinos, pay levies of 25 percent, the commission said.

“To date, the Commonwealth has collected approximately $387 million in total taxes and assessments from PPC, MGM and Encore Boston Harbor since the respective openings of each gaming facility,” the commission said.

The gaming revenue totals for Encore are divided into slots, $9.1 million, and table games, $7.6 million.

There was a festive atmosphere at the Encore during its grand opening on Sunday morning June 23, when company executives and employees cut the ribbon and let loose a colorful blast of fireworks, while Frank Sinatra crooned through the loudspeakers.

Thousands of patrons streamed past the flower-encrusted carousel in the lobby to the 210,000-square-foot casino.

Others made a beeline for the 15 restaurants and lounges, slurping local oysters at the oyster bar, sipping cocktails at the Mystique Asian Restaurant & Lounge, and attacking crab legs at the buffet.

Getting to the opening required seven years of planning, review, and competition, a vast amount of environmental cleanup, and more than a few lawsuits.

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But if its opening week is any indication, the miracle on the Mystic has already started paying dividends for the company and state budget writers.


Josh Miller and Mark Arsenault of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.