SugarHouse Casino gets name change as part of $15 million makeover

Philadelphia’s first casino tried to link itself to history along the Delaware River when it picked the name SugarHouse. It’s located in an area where there once stood a giant sugar refining operation. But the casino will transform into Rivers Casino Philadelphia later this year in the name of corporate branding.

Greg Carlin, CEO of the casino’s parent company Rush Street Gaming said it was a corporate decision, to unify all their casinos under the same name.

“This is something we’ve been thinking about for quite a while. I think we are at the point in our company’s history where it makes sense to have a unified brand. All our properties and markets, especially with the advent of online gaming, we think it makes a lot of sense,” Carlin said.

It has gambling halls under the Rivers Casino name in Pittsburgh, Des Plaines, Ill. and Schenectady, N.Y.

Carlin said the change won’t happen overnight because they have a great deal more work to do.

“We’re going to buy all new chips, change all the signage, all the shirts, all of the business cards — it’s a long list of things that need to be swapped out,” he said.

Carlin said the name change is part of a major renovation.

“Not only that we’re upgrading the property, but we’re also going to add a state of the art sports book. We’re redoing one of the restaurants. We’re re-carpeting the original casino floor. We’re changing the decorations, we don’t want this just to be a name change, we’re really changing the property as well,” he said.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has signed off on the change, which will probably be completed by mid-September or early October.