It’s hard to believe that the greater Philadelphia area doesn’t have a single, legal poker room.
But that is about to change.
After massive and still ongoing renovations that began in July and are expected to last 24 months, the Sugarhouse Casino in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is going to have a whole new look complete with what will be the city’s only live poker room (which should open next month if all goes according to plan).
The opening of the poker room in November is only the first step in creating a world class poker destination at the SugarHouse Casino. The poker room is a small part of a larger expansion project, but it is one the casino is putting a massive amount of emphasis on.
SugarHouse Casino received 24 poker tables this past week as it prepares to open its “interim” poker room in November, with the launch of the casino’s official 30-table, poker room scheduled for sometime in early 2015.
Despite accounting for just $3 million of the $164 million project’s budget, the Poker Room is one of the highlights of the project considering its prominence in the company’s July press release announcing the groundbreaking:
“In advance of the completion of the property-wide expansion, SugarHouse is opening an interim 24-table poker room to meet Philly’s high demand for poker. It will be open 24/7 starting this fall and will remain in operation until the casino debuts its permanent poker room in 2015.
“The poker room will be built on the south side of the property facing the Ben Franklin Bridge to ensure that it won’t interrupt expansion construction. It will feature food and beverage service and state-of-the-art tables that will eventually be relocated to the permanent poker room next year.
“The poker room itself is a $2.9 million investment, and over the 13-month period will result in an estimated $1.8 million in taxes to the City and Commonwealth. The opening of this new facility will create 100 new full- and part-time jobs across a variety of departments, with 80 of the positions being poker dealers. SugarHouse will recruit a mix of experienced and newly trained dealers to fill these spots and will offer a free poker dealer school to train current employees and applicants from PTSSD.”
The Rest Of The Expansion Project
Here is a look at the other benefits the SugarHouse Casino expansion project will bring.
When all is said and done, SugarHouse’s expansion and renovations will have created some 700 construction jobs over a two year period, and will add 500 new full-and part-time jobs at the casino. Thus, bumping total employment to around 1,500, including the aforementioned 80 poker dealers.
The SugarHouse Casino’s gaming space is increasing from 50,000 sq ft to over 90,000, and a new parking garage will add another 500 parking spaces (about a 25% increase). When completed the SugarHouse will more than double in size, going from a 106,000 sq ft property to over 250,000 sq ft.
The expansion will take SugarHouse from a small, regional casino, to something more closely resembling a destination casino, including an expanded river walk, up to four new dining options, and art galleries.
“We are thrilled to be one step closer to the bigger and better SugarHouse Casino,” said Wendy Hamilton (general manager of SugarHouse Casino) in the printed statement issued back in July. “Our guests and team have been waiting for this moment, and we’re excited to say that it’s finally here. Groundbreaking is a huge milestone for us.”
Potential Competition
Right now SugarHouse is the only casino in the Philadelphia area, but there is a lot of talk about future expansion in the city.
As it stands, SugarHouse has a virtual monopoly on Philadelphia, with Harrah’s to the south and Parx and Sand’s to the north. Parx is the closest casino and is about 16 miles away, which is roughly a 30 minute drive from Philly.
Online Gambling
During a hearing in June in front of the Pennsylvania Senate Committee on Community, Economic and Recreational Development, the SugarHouse representative, Wendy Hamilton, stated that the casino felt talk of online gambling should be pushed back to 2015.
She also mentioned that the state should adopt a “wait and see approach” (not surprising considering the casino’s current expansion projects) but overall SugarHouse seemed amenable to online gambling.
