Encore Boston Harbor gets approval to serve alcohol to ‘active’ gamblers until 4 a.m.

EVERETT, MASS. (WHDH) - The Massachusetts Gaming Commission voted Wednesday to extend alcoholic beverage service until 4 a.m. for people who are actively gambling at the new Encore Boston Harbor Casino in Everett.

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The commission voted 4-1 to approve a 3:30 a.m. last call for complimentary drinks. Come 4 a.m., all alcoholic beverages would be cleared from the casino floor.

Alcohol will be served at 23 different locations outside of the gaming area between 8 a.m. and 2 a.m.

Encore Boston Harbor President Robert DeSalvio says casino patrons will be monitored closely.

“People, I think do realize, that if they come to the facility and that they’re leaving after the hours of Mass. transit, they have to have somebody give them a lift home,” he told reporters. “A lot of the times they’re using the rideshare options.”

Casino employees will be authorized to offer rides to drunken patrons who attempt to leave the property.

“We give full authority to our employees to make sure that if they see even the remote possibility that somebody should not be appropriately driving a motor vehicle and they are attempting to leave the property, we’re more than happy to offer them a ride home,” DeSalvio said.

The $2.6 billion casino has requested to open on June 23.

The casino is located on a 33-acre parcel of land about five miles from Boston’s Logan Airport.

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