American casino operator MGM Resorts International has reportedly announced that its $960 million MGM Springfield property could open as soon as August 24 complete with a 125,000 sq ft casino offering some 3,000 slots alongside 100 gaming tables.

According to a Thursday report from the Boston Herald newspaper, the venue will be the first Las Vegas-style integrated casino resort in Massachusetts and additionally feature a private poker room and high-limit VIP gambling area as well as a multi-story parking garage and around 55,000 sq ft of retail and restaurant space.

Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts International had earlier envisioned opening the 14.5-acre downtown facility in September but the newspaper reported that construction has subsequently moved faster than expected due to a series of relatively mild winters and steady progress on a nearby highway improvements project.

The Boston Herald cited Bill Hornbuckle, President for MGM Resorts International, as telling the Associated Press news service that his firm has already hired around 400 of the estimated 3,000 people that will be needed to run MGM Springfield. He moreover purportedly detailed that the Hampden County facility is currently installing slots onto its casino floor and furnishing its 252 hotel rooms.

Hornbuckle also reportedly told the Associated Press that the opening of MGM Springfield is to be followed by the premiere of a nearby eight-screen cinema as well as the completion of work to transform the city’s historic Armory complex into an events space and open air marketplace.

Following the emergence two weeks ago of rumors that MGM Resorts International was engaged in negotiations to purchase the under-construction Boston Harbor Resort from rival Wynn Resorts Limited, Hornbuckle furthermore reportedly stated that the final fate of the $2.5 billion Boston-area development currently rests in the hands of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.

“We have a long-standing policy that we’re not going to speak on rumors,” Hornbuckle reportedly told the Associated Press. “Whatever happens in Boston is up to the [Massachusetts] Gaming Commission and that story is yet to be told.”