SPRINGFIELD — MGM Springfield has lost nearly 200 full-time employees who were recruited by Encore Boston Harbor before it opened in July, according to MGM Springfield President Michael Mathis.

Mathis and his administrative team met with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission Thursday at the MassMutual Center in Springfield to discuss second-quarter revenue and employment numbers.

When asked by Commissioner Enrique Zuniga about employee turnover, Marikate Murren, vice president of human resources for the Springfield casino, said it has been a challenge to maintain full-time employees and to keep full-time employees from requesting part-time shifts instead.

At the end of March, MGM Springfield had 2,303 employees. At the end of June it was down to 2,054. Murren cited family responsibilities, lack of interviewing and customer service skills and, most recently, recruitment tactics by Encore as reasons for the decline.

“We do have some challenges unfortunately with theft. They are moving onto bigger and better opportunities. We have lost 125 table game dealers to Encore so we are doing the additional recruitment to rectify that,” she said.

Mathis called Encore’s recruitment tactics aggressive.

“We also lost management so really the number is closer to 200 that left the operation because of Encore. We felt that particularly in May and June as they got closer to their opening,” he said. “I certainly don’t fault them. We have great, trained employees that are already licensed, licensing being key. They were very aggressive with offering our employees opportunities.”

Mathis and Murren said they are continuing to partner with Holyoke Community College and Springfield Technical Community College to prepare employees for the workforce.

“When the doors opened a year ago and even to this day workforce development does not stop. We are going to be here for a very long time. We have a commitment to the state and the city and more importantly to the residents of this area,” Murren said.