Know When to Hold'em, Know When to Fold'em, Know When to Walk Away

This has been a tough week. Lots of early mornings, little sleep, and a very stressful day at the hospital. Last Friday was my newest CT Scan. This was to see if any new cancerous nodes popped up or if I am still in remission. We were at the hospital for hours doing scans, tests, and another infusion. After such a long day, it is good to report that I am indeed still in remission. Nothing new cropped up, no new threats. It is now just staying the course. In light of this, my family decided they wanted to visit the all new casino near us and try the buffet for lunch. We went too, of course, and well. I guess here is my review of the buffet and the new Encore Casino in Everett.

First let me preface this by saying no one in my family is really big on gambling. I usually play around $20 and that is my limit. I don't particularly enjoy it and find the whole atmosphere of casinos depressing.

So here we go, let's do this. While pulling up to the Encore, the building itself is an eyesore dwarfing everything around it. By eyesore, I mean it is very much out of place where it is, while architecturally it is an appealing structure.

Front & Center

The first issue I have with the Encore is the parking situation. They do not permit employees to park on property and shuttle them in. This isn't because of lack of space, but so they can maximize parking profits. Disney does the same thing, so I cannot really begrudge them this point. However, the area is so congested that shuttling for employees must be a pain. I have seen their shuttle buses and they always look cramped and overcrowded.

Now let's get to the lobby. My assessment of the lobby and casino floor are pretty much the same. The whole space is gaudy. It is a monument to grotesque opulence. The flower sculpture at the entrance was very beautiful, but everything else was like someone wished this structure into being by using the Lament Configuration.

We Have Such Sights to Show You.

Now, I am a big believer in the concept of knowing your audience. The Encore misses the mark here. It is an edifice of near hedonistic decadence while resting in the center of an industrial park in a town that is very much middle of the road blue collar. There is a direct disconnect from what it is, what it wants, and the local community.

A great example of this is the first restaurant you come across when you enter the casino, Sinatra's. At first glance, Sinatra's offers a comfortable, upscale Italian experience. At second glance, you realize that the area the hotel is in is surrounded by tons of Italian restaurants and a stones throw from the famous North End. Then you realize the prices at Sinatra's. A veal parm, one of the most pedestrian Italian-American dishes, is a $60 endeavor. $60 for something you can literally get anywhere for half that price or less with equal or better quality. The idea here is you are paying for the Sinatra name and the status of being seated in such an establishment. Let me quickly move on to gaming before I burst into a rant about Italian food, peasantry, and tradition.

I am not a gambler, but at a casino I do enjoy playing at least a hand of blackjack and a spin or two at the roulette table. I could not indulge those whims at the Encore. Every table, every single table, is a $25 minimum bet. This is unheard of, even the best Las Vegas casinos have some $5 minimum tables. I ended up settling down at a video poker machine, my only real gambling at any casino, and slotted a $20. I gambled for awhile, at a quarter a hand and ended up winning $15. Once I was up I cashed out and sat with my wife at the Dunkin' Donuts where she was reading. She doesn't gamble at all and hated being there.

Eventually it was lunch time and we all headed over to The Buffet, the name of the buffet restaurant. It was $30 a person for 2 hours worth of being able to eat as much as you care from the assortment of foods. The buffet had lots of stuff, very varied cuisine and all of it was edible. Some things were better than others, such as the prime rib was cooked nicely and seasoned well, while the fried chicken had a soggy, flavorless coating. The seating was very comfortable and our waitress was very attentive with drinks. For $30 a person, we all got our monies worth of food and dessert was an absolute triumph, the almond cakes are heavenly. That being said, I have been to better buffets and restaurants, but I have also been to much worse. It was middle of the road and for the price it was fine.

That was the extent of my experience at the Encore. With what I have seen and done, I know I will never go back over there. I rather would have gone to Night Shift Brewery, essentially right next to the Encore, had a good afternoon of craft beer tasting and took a Lyft home. That is more my idea of fun.

Now, I want to say this. The Encore embodies everything I hate. It isn't a place meant for the average person, it is a gilded trap. The Encore is essentially like a Free-to-Play mobile game. It looks alright on the surface, nothing insidious to see, but then you notice that if you want to progress you need to buy into the microtransactions. The Encore, like all Free-to-Play games, doesn't care about the average person or player, they are looking to land a Whale, one person where money means nothing and they will continue to throw cash down without a second thought. They exclusively want high rollers and will alienate others to get that status and bank roll. Know your audience, Encore, cater to the community.

One last thing, there is a class action suit against the Encore already and it just opened not too long ago. It is, from what I understand, concerning two things. The first concern is that the payouts and odds at the Blackjack table are skewed toward the favor of the house and greatly differ from the standards setup by the State Gaming Commission. The payouts change based on the stakes the player is playing at. I do not know much about this, so I will end this here. The second concern is the Cash Out machines do not pay the player their change. If you cash out at $35.80, the machine will give you $35 in cash and the .80 cents on a separate ticket, not in actual change. The ticket can be used in any machine, but if you do not actually gamble it away then the house keeps your change, whether it was yours to begin with or if you won it. While there we were left with a ticket for .11 cents. We couldn't gamble this amount of change because even the penny slot machines have a .40 cent minimum bid. Now, overall .11 cents doesn't mean everything, but if they are collecting this much or more from every player that can add up to a big chunk of revenue they essentially stole. With both concerns raised in the class action suit, it is estimated that the Encore would stand to gain an extra $30 million+ a year from theft and gaming manipulation. The Boston Globe & Lowell Sun explain the suit better than I can.

As for now I am off again, my back hurts and my neuropathy is extremely bad today.

Cheers,
Phil