Gaming control board approves SugarHouse table games request

May 25, 2010

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board this afternoon approved SugarHouse Casino’s request to operate table games.

Casino officials plan to open the casino with table games later this summer. The project is now under construction in Fishtown, and recently placed the last piece of steel in the building’s skeleton.

“There is much good news in these approvals, beginning with the fact that the casinos have worked hard and effectively with our staff to assemble and present to the Board solid plans to implement table games at each of their casinos while making sure that revenue from slot machine gaming does not drop,” Gaming Control Board Chairman Gregory Fajt said in a press statement. “In addition, the approvals ensure that the Commonwealth will receive each of the $16.5 million table games license fees that are essential to help balance the current fiscal year budget.”

The PGCB held a public hearing on SugarHouse’s table games application in Philadelphia last week.  At that hearing, SugarHouse executives promised table games would bring more jobs.  Proponents from the public said the games would make the casino more competitive with ones in Atlantic City, and that the casino has already been a good neighbor, making donations to fund neighborhood playgrounds and other projects.

Opponents said that the casino market is already over saturated, and the jobs and tax money promises would not come true. They said casinos would lead to gambling addiction, increased crime, and other neighborhood problems.

The gaming board also approved table games for Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh. Chicago billionaire Neil Bluhm is involved in both projects.

-Posted by Kellie Patrick Gates