PROVIDENCE – The MGM Springfield opened in Springfield, Mass., Friday morning at 11 a.m.
The $960 million casino is located just over the Connecticut line, north of Hartford, in downtown Springfield. The casino is expected to divert revenue away from Foxwoods Casino and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.
The casino has more than 2,500 slot machines and 120 gaming tables. The casino also features an 8,000-seat entertainment venue, a bowling alley, a convention and meeting space, restaurants and retail shops, and a Topgolf golf simulator suite.
The casino development also includes a boutique-style five-story hotel with 250 guestrooms.
MGM Springfield is the first of two destination casinos approved in Massachusetts to open. The next is the Encore Boston Harbor, under construction now in Everett and expected to open next year.
A third casino, for the southeast part of the state, is in legal limbo, as the plan by the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe to open the First Light Resort and Casino in Taunton is challenged in court, which in turn has kept the Massachusetts Gaming Commission from approving another bid for a casino, which would be built in Brockton.
