Encore Boston Harbor Guest Wins $1.62 Million on AGS Royal 9 Baccarat Progressive
A guest at Encore Boston Harbor hit a $1.62 million progressive jackpot on New Year’s Day.
LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE:The jackpot, valued at $1,620,355, was struck on January 1 while the player was taking a side bet on Royal 9 Baccarat at Encore Boston Harbor in Everett, Massachusetts. The prize was powered by AGS’s STAX Progressive platform, which links side bets across compatible table games to build larger, communal jackpots. Casino officials say the win is the largest jackpot ever awarded at the property.
According to AGS, the payout was triggered after the player placed a single progressive side bet. The company framed the outcome as an example of the volatility and headline-making potential that linked progressives can deliver for live‑table gaming. John Hemberger, senior vice president and general manager of table games at AGS, commented: “We built STAX to bring incredible wins to players, and this is exactly the kind of excitement we envisioned. This is a true testament of what a single $5 progressive bet can do.”
Encore Boston Harbor, which opened in 2019 and is one of the largest resort casinos in New England, has increasingly leaned on high-profile wins to drive footfall and table-game activity. Progressive side bets – often offered at $1, $5 or higher – pool funds from many players and can deliver sudden, multi-million-dollar payouts when rare combinations occur.
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Industry Reaction and What It Means
The New Year’s Day jackpot follows another notable AGS-linked table-game payout earlier in the region. On July 9, a guest at Mohegan Sun’s Casino of the Earth pocketed $2,018,742 while playing a blackjack variant that featured AGS’s Bonus Spin Xtreme side bet; that prize – tied to a Triple Diamond feature – was reported as the largest table-game progressive in AGS’s history and one of Mohegan Sun’s biggest-ever single table-game payouts.
Progressive side bets have become a strategic tool for both suppliers and casinos: they create headline moments that attract media attention and help differentiate live table floors from online offerings. Industry operators say these jackpots can increase time on device (or at the table) and stimulate ancillary spend on food, rooms and entertainment. At the same time, responsible-gaming advocates caution that side bets tend to carry a higher house edge than base-game wagers and can encourage riskier play by promising outsized, infrequent prizes.
Market observers note that companies such as AGS are investing heavily in modular systems that let casinos layer progressive mechanics onto multiple table games, slot titles and denominations. That flexibility helps operators tune prize paths and marketing, but it also draws scrutiny from regulators who monitor payout reporting and fairness. In Massachusetts and Connecticut, where Encore Boston Harbor and Mohegan Sun operate respectively, casino regulators routinely require transparent reporting for large jackpots and maintain rules intended to protect consumers and ensure accurate publicity around wins.
For players, big linked jackpots are a double-edged sword: they offer the chance of life-changing payouts on a modest bet, but the frequency and odds of triggering such prizes remain low. For casinos and suppliers, headline jackpots remain an efficient way to generate earned media and attract new customers to the table floor – so long as transparency and responsible‑gaming measures are front and center.
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