‘Just a blink’: Longtime MGM Springfield staff reminisce about 5 years in the casino

MGM Springfield marks its fifth anniversary Thursday. This week, reporters with MassLive and The Republican are taking stock of the casino venture’s rise and evolution.

Construction on the $970 million casino began in 2016 between Union and State streets and was completed in August 2018, replacing the 14 acres of vacant storefronts into MGM Springfield which today offers a variety of entertainment and employment opportunities.

Some MGM Springfield employees who worked at the casino since the beginning said during an interview with MassLive that these past five years were “just a blink.”

“We look back now five years after it’s just you blinked and we’re here,” said Tess Quaglieri, the manager of facilities at MGM Springfield. “We see every corner of this building and [it] brings so much pride.”

Before opening their doors in 2018, MGM Springfield was already hiring people for positions and accepting volunteers for their campaign team.

Amanda Croteau, director of entertainment at MGM Springfield began her journey with the casino in 2013 when she was a part of the casino’s campaign team, and was knocking on doors and making phone calls to gain support for the casino’s construction.

Since then, Croteau said “it feels incredible” to have been with MGM Springfield for so long.

“Going back to 2013, 2014, 2015... It was just a drawing and a promise that we were making to people,” Croteau said. “We were talking the talk and now we’re walking the walk.”

“Even looking back on everything that COVID was, it’s all in the rearview mirror,” said Jason Randall, executive director of MGM Springfield. “Those were some long stretches of uncertainty but looking back at it... that’s kind of a blank.”

During the pandemic, MGM Springfield closed in March 2020, and their staff went from 2,200 to 94 by the time they reopened in July 2020.

But that number has grown with more than 1,500 workers currently employed at MGM with 200 vacant jobs and an informal expectation that number will grow to about 2,000 jobs.

When MGM first opened they had 2,500 slot machines, 93 game tables and 23 poker tables. But today it has 1,600 slots, 50 game tables and 15 poker tables.

Arlen Carballo who worked through the pandemic said COVID “completely changed the landscape” of the casino, creating new understandings on guest preferences and monitoring less slot machines than before.

“You’re kind of reopening under a whole new set of rules,” said Carballo. “We still were able to deliver on the core, which is to entertain the human race.”

The past few years leading up to MGM’s fifth year anniversary, Quaglieri said “we have just cracked open the curtain for the events that we’re offering to Springfield” including performances from Bruno Mars and Carlos Santana at MassMutual and Free Music Friday and weekly comedy club at the MGM Plaza.

On Sept. 8 MassMutual will be welcoming Pete Davidson, Jon Stewart and John Mulaney.

“I don’t think any property has the variety we have,” said Croteau. “We have a psychic medium one night and Bruno Mars across the street, then we have everything from children’s shows to Thunder Down Under and everything in between.”

Throughout the last five years, game dealers, service representatives and bartenders at MGM have become familiar with their customers, which Randall described as a “‘Cheers’ feeling where everybody knows your name.”

“We’ve just come so far now,” said Randall. “It’s the longest, quickest five years possible.”