A Quincy man walked away from a Royal 9 Baccarat table at Encore Boston Harbor with $1,620,335.70 after placing a $7.50 bet, the casino confirmed following the win on July 25. The Everett resort has not released the winner's name, but the payout ranks among the largest table-game jackpots the property has ever handed out.
The win came through the game's progressive side-bet system, and as MassLive reported, the jackpot had been climbing for weeks without a winner, nearing $1.6 million earlier in December before finally hitting in July. Royal 9 Baccarat runs on game developer AGS's STAX Progressive platform, which pools optional $5 side wagers placed across linked tables to build a multi-tiered jackpot, according to a company announcement carried by Notified. An Encore Boston Harbor press release described the win as adding to the excitement of the holiday celebration and underscoring the thrill of high-stakes gaming at the resort.
How a $5 Side Bet Builds Into Seven Figures
Hitting the game's top prize, known as the Star Jackpot, is not simple luck alone. According to research from gaming analyst site Wizard of Odds, winning it requires a player's seat position to match exact two-card pre-printed combinations — a nine paired with a specific face card — in both the Player and Banker hands simultaneously. Lower-tier payouts on the same $5 side bet range from a fixed $25 up to $5,000 for secondary matching combinations, per that same analysis.
This is not the only recent seven-figure side-bet win in New England. In July 2025, a Mohegan Sun patron in Connecticut won $2,018,742 on a $5 side bet playing an AGS Bonus Spin Xtreme blackjack variation, which CDC Gaming reported was the largest table-game progressive in AGS's history at the time.
A Slot Win And A Record August
The baccarat jackpot wasn't the only notable payout at the Everett casino recently. Another Massachusetts casino player won a $36,000 jackpot playing the Megahot 3/5/10 slot machine, per the same MassLive account. Encore Boston Harbor's gaming floor includes more than 2,700 slot machines and over 175 table games, giving the resort a deep bench of ways for guests to hit a jackpot.
Big payouts are nothing new for the property. Encore Boston Harbor set a record for jackpot payouts last August, distributing more than $46.3 million to winners across its gaming floor that month across 18,208 individual jackpots, according to figures reported by Poker.org. Between December 2025 and February 2026, the casino awarded over $120 million in jackpots total, ranging from $43.03 million across 16,147 wins in December down to $36.42 million across 13,635 wins in February — its lowest jackpot total in seven months despite still clearing $36 million, per the same outlet.
Taxes, Regulation, And Responsible Gaming
Big wins come with big tax bills. Under federal and state guidelines, gambling winnings exceeding $5,000 at Massachusetts casinos trigger an automatic 24% federal tax withholding on top of the state's 5% flat income tax rate, according to AARP. Separately, as of January 1, 2026, the federal IRS reporting threshold for slot machine jackpots rose from $1,200 to $2,000, a change that affects tax paperwork for players hitting mid-level slot wins like the $36,000 Megahot prize, per PENN Entertainment.
The state also takes its cut at the casino level. Under the Massachusetts Expanded Gaming Act of 2011, Category 1 resort casinos like Encore Boston Harbor pay a 25% tax on gross gaming revenue, compared to 49% for Category 2 slots-only facilities such as Plainridge Park Casino, according to SoloAzar. As of June 2026, cumulative state tax and assessment collections from commercial casino operations in Massachusetts had reached approximately $2.47 billion, with the state's three casinos generating $97.36 million in combined gross gaming revenue in that month alone, the outlet reported.
Massachusetts is also the only gaming jurisdiction in the country that requires every licensed casino to operate an on-site, industry-funded GameSense Info Center staffed with responsible gaming advisors, according to Comm100. Responsible gaming support is available through GameSenseMA.com, and the state's responsible gaming helpline can be reached at 1-800-327-5050.
The jackpot win comes as Encore Boston Harbor faces separate legal scrutiny. Hoodline previously reported on an 82-year-old veteran's lawsuit against the resort over a security checkpoint dispute, a reminder that the casino's guest operations remain under watch even as its jackpot payouts continue to draw headlines.
