Casinos reintroducing roulette

Roulette wheels can spin once again in Massachusetts casinos, but only with COVID-19 safety precautions that outlaw the typical rowdy atmosphere of players and spectators around the table.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission approved the reintroduction of roulette to MGM Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor at a meeting Thursday that also saw regulators approve a variety of mostly minor changes to the rules of the games offered at Massachusetts casinos.

When the commission allowed casinos to reopen in July, regulators did not allow poker, craps and roulette on the gaming floors. Loretta Lillios, interim director of the commission’s Investigations and Enforcement Bureau, said Thursday that the state’s two full-scale casinos requested that the games be allowed now that they have been open for about three months without significant issues.

“We have worked with them to identify health and safety measures that could be implemented with roulette nad in doing so we tried to hew closely to the measures that the commission already approved for the blackjack-style games,” Lillios said. “One of our obligations with a request like this is that we consult with the Department of Public Health ... and the department raised no objections to the reintroduction of the game and it communicated that it is comfortable doing so in conjunction with the minimum safety measures outlined here.”

Another factor that the DPH took into consideration, Lillios said, was that Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey casinos are offering roulette, meaning that most Massachusetts roulette players have the option of gambling in another state within easy driving distance.

The commission approved a series of safety guidelines the casinos must follow if they plan to offer roulette.

Instead of the usual nine players seated and others standing around the table, the game will be capped at a maximum of three players, all of whom must be seated and separated by plexiglass. No spectators will be allowed to stand around the table.

Only 16 roulette tables will be allowed at Encore and MGM is allowed up to seven tables. Neither casino will be allowed to increase its current maximum occupancy in conjunction with the addition of roulette.

The other significant change roulette players will notice is a new prohibition on wagers placed once the ball is in motion. IEB Assistant Director Bruce Band said roulette is a very verbal game and there was a concern that the plexiglass barriers could make it more difficult for a dealer to recognize verbal bets once the ball is in motion, so the decision was made to simply eliminate those wagers. Band said MGM and Encore are supportive of the change.

Commissioners said they were now comfortable with the reintroduction of roulette — the commission denied a request in August to reintroduce both roulette and craps — because of the small number of compliance issues in the months since the casinos reopened, the safety measures put in place, and because Lillios said the return of roulette would result in Encore hiring back 60 employees it had laid off and MGM hiring back an undetermined number.

“I think we now have a history of watching our licensees and patron compliance,” Commissioner Eileen O’Brien said.