Encore Boston Harbor president assures employees the casino is not for sale

"It has been falsely reported that Encore Boston Harbor is for sale," begins the message released Saturday by Brian Gullbrants, president of the 2.6 billion casino and resort in Everett, Massachusetts.

Gullbrants was refuting an article published Friday by the Everett Leader-Herald, which reported that the casino was for sale, and cited an unnamed source.

"I want to assure you that our company has not engaged in any conversations about the sale of the property," the message,  which was obtained by MassLive, continued. "In fact, we are very excited about and committed to the future of Encore Boston Harbor and we cannot wait until we are fully re-open, and we have all of our team members back with us every day." 

Casinos have struggled during the coronavirus pandemic and have had limited operations with safety protocols. In October, were allowed to begin offering roulette again, but still have seen a low numbers of patrons.

A stay-at-home advisory issued by Gov. Charlie Baker in November requires some businesses - including casinos - to close at 9:30 p.m. Last month, Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call that Encore Boston Harbor could see between 670 and 1,000 full-time equivalent workers furloughed because of the curfew.

In August, layoffs of 385 employees were announced, and the casino said it didn’t anticipate the positions returning in 2020. Encore Boston Harbor opened in June 2019.

"The team is hard at work planning for the future of Encore, post-COVID, and we can’t wait to share all of these exciting new ideas with you," Gullbrants added.