2.4 straight-line miles separates downtown Boston from the nearest documented casino
The nearest documented casino venue to Boston is Encore Boston Harbor in Everett, Massachusetts, at 2.4 straight-line miles from the city's documented coordinate point. That figure is a great-circle measurement, not a road distance. Road distance is always longer, and this article does not publish driving mileage or travel time for any pairing.
The question "where to play keno in Boston" is a question about a physical place, so the honest first answer is geographic: the city itself has a fixed, documented position, and every casino venue around it has its own fixed, documented position. What changes is where you are standing when you ask. The rest of this article gives you the fixed positions and the straight-line separations that are documented, then explains how to measure from your own starting point.
The documented straight-line distances from Boston
Ten casino venues have documented straight-line distances measured from Boston's coordinate. They are listed below from nearest to farthest. Every figure in the table is a great-circle measurement, meaning the shortest path across the surface of the earth, not a route any car can drive.
| Reference point | Straight-line miles | Measurement type |
|---|---|---|
| Encore Boston Harbor (Everett, MA) | 2.4 | great-circle |
| Plainridge Park Casino (Plainville, MA) | 25.8 | great-circle |
| Gate City Casino (Nashua, NH) | 33.9 | great-circle |
| Bally's Twin River Lincoln (Lincoln, RI) | 38.3 | great-circle |
| Filotimo Casino (Manchester, NH) | 45.6 | great-circle |
| Foxwoods (CT) | 76.8 | great-circle |
| Mohegan Sun (CT) | 80.1 | great-circle |
| Mohegan (CT) | 80.1 | great-circle |
| MGM Springfield (Springfield, MA) | 80.3 | great-circle |
| Oxford (ME) | 125.1 | great-circle |
These ten pairings are the only Boston-to-venue distances this article can state. Any other pairing you may be curious about is not one this article can measure, because no documented figure exists for it here.
Why the road always runs longer than the line
A straight-line figure is the shortest possible path between two coordinate points, drawn across the surface of the earth. A road cannot follow that line. Roads bend around terrain, cross or avoid bodies of water, follow property boundaries, and connect through existing intersections rather than cutting across open land.
Boston's position makes this gap especially visible. The city sits on a coastline with a harbor, rivers, and a dense, old street grid. Encore Boston Harbor, the nearest documented venue, sits across the Mystic River in Everett. The straight-line separation is small, but the actual road route must cross water at a bridge or tunnel and thread through urban streets, so the driven distance is materially longer than 2.4 miles.
The same applies to every other pairing in the table. Plainridge Park Casino is 25.8 straight-line miles away in Plainville, Massachusetts, southwest of Boston. The road route does not run as a straight southwest line; it follows the regional highway network as it curves around the metropolitan area. Twin River, 38.3 straight-line miles away in Lincoln, Rhode Island, sits across a state line, which adds routing complexity but does not change the geometry: the straight-line figure remains a fixed fact, while the road figure depends on route, traffic, and construction.
The venue's fixed position versus your moving one
If your question is phrased as "where to play keno from me" or "near my location," the honest answer is that this article cannot resolve your position. A casino venue has one documented coordinate pair that does not move. Your starting point is a variable this article does not have.
What you can do is measure from your own position using the fixed reference points supplied here. Boston's documented coordinate is 42.36027778 latitude, -71.05777778 longitude. Encore Boston Harbor's documented coordinate is 42.39446111 latitude, -71.07020278 longitude. Any mapping tool will let you drop a pin at your own location and measure the straight-line distance to either of those fixed points, or compute a road route between them.
The venue's position is the constant. Your position is the input. The article gives you the constants.
Where the documented venues sit in the region
Encore Boston Harbor is in Everett, Massachusetts, immediately north of Boston across the Mystic River. Plainridge Park Casino is in Plainville, Massachusetts, southwest of Boston. Gate City Casino is in Nashua, New Hampshire, northwest of Boston. Filotimo Casino is in Manchester, New Hampshire, also northwest but farther out. Twin River is in Lincoln, Rhode Island, south-southwest of Boston. Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun are in Connecticut, south of Boston. MGM Springfield is in Springfield, Massachusetts, west of Boston. Oxford is in Maine, north of Boston.
These directional descriptions are supported by the coordinate pairs themselves: a venue with a higher latitude than Boston sits north, a lower latitude sits south, a higher longitude sits east, a lower longitude sits west. No road route is implied by any of this.
What the distance table does not tell you
The table tells you how far apart two fixed points are in a straight line. It does not tell you how long it takes to get from one to the other, what route to take, what the traffic will be like, what tolls apply, or whether a venue is currently open. None of those facts are documented in this article's reference set, and none of them can be derived from a coordinate pair.
It also does not tell you whether any of these venues offers keno. The question asks where to play keno, but the documented facts here are geographic only. A venue's presence in the distance table means its coordinate is documented, not that any particular game is available there. The venue's own game listings, or a call to its guest services line, is the channel that holds the current answer to what is on the floor today.
What to confirm before you go
Before you travel to any of the venues in the table, confirm the items that change and that this article cannot state: whether keno is currently offered, the venue's operating hours, any entry requirements, and the actual road route and travel time from your starting point. The venue's own published pages and its guest services line are the authoritative channel for all of these.
Facility figures such as room counts, machine counts, and floor area are revised as properties are rebuilt and expanded, so treat any published figure as a documented point in time rather than a guarantee of today's condition. Ownership and branding of casino properties also change through sales and rebrands.
FAQ
Does the 2.4-mile figure mean Encore Boston Harbor is a short drive from Boston?
No. The 2.4-mile figure is a straight-line, great-circle measurement between two fixed coordinate points. The road distance is always longer, because roads must cross the Mystic River and follow the street grid rather than cut across open land. This article does not publish driving mileage or travel time for any pairing.
Can this article tell me which Boston-area casino has keno?
No. The documented facts in this article are geographic: coordinates, straight-line distances, and a small set of facility figures for specific venues. Nothing in the reference set documents which games any venue currently offers. The venue's own game listings or guest services line is the channel that holds the current answer.
How do I measure the distance from my own location to one of these venues?
Take the documented coordinate of the venue you are interested in, drop a pin at your own location in any mapping tool, and measure the straight-line distance between the two points. For a road route, use the mapping tool's driving directions function. This article supplies the fixed venue coordinates but cannot resolve your starting point.
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