Pennsylvania Gaming Establishments Prepares for Casino Table Games

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Pennsylvania Gaming Establishments Prepares for Casino Table Games

Long before Gov. Ed Rendell's signature was placed on the legislation allowing casino table games in the state of Pennsylvania, casino owners are thinking of ways on how to improve their gaming floors, how many games should they offer and how many new positions should they open. Now, they have the go signal to pursue their plans.

Bob Green, the chairman of Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment Incorporated, the owner and operator of Pennsylvania's most profitable gaming facility, Philadelphia Park Casino and Racetrack in Bensalem, said that they have been waiting for this development for a long time. Soon, the slots-only facility will offer 120 casino table games like craps.

Green said that he did not even wait for Gov. Rendell's signature on the proposal to push ahead with his plans. Within minutes of the bill's approval on January 7th, 2010, he called his contractor and architect to create a construction schedule and he called equipment managers about the mix of casino table games he was interested to offer. Green was also busy studying the 230-page law and evaluating how much additional casino staff would be needed for the games.

The same scene played out throughout Pennsylvania, from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, wherever the state's nine gaming facilities are or their parent organizations are located. In Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Sands Corporation, the owner of the Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem was keeping an eye on every development in Harrisburg. Sands Bethlehem plans to start off with eighty to one hundred casino table games.

Company spokesperson Ron Reese said that final details on the number of casino tables and types will be determined at a later date. Las Vegas was confident about the approval of the casino table games proposal in Pennsylvania that in September 2009, it decided to postponed adding two thousand slot machines in a 40,000 square foot area of the casino facility.

Instead, when Sands Bethlehem opened its expanded casino on December 1st, 2009, it had only 250 more slot machines for a total of 3,200 and reserved the space for casino table games.

The chief operating officer of the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh and the SugarHouse Casino proposed for Philadelphia's waterfront, Greg Carlin, said that his teams were busy working out on their casino table games plan so that they can have the games operational as soon as possible.

The $780 million Rivers Casino opened on August 9th, 2009 on Pittsburgh's North Shore waterfront while the SugarHouse Casino is being constructed in phases, aimed for a late summer opening.

Wendy Wilson, the spokesperson for the Mount Airy Casino Resort in the Poconos, said that they are busy creating their advertisement plan for the casino table games. Mount Airy will begin holding job fair soon to full 275 to 350 full-time positions.

Pennsylvania's first stand-alone casino plans to begin with seventy-three casino table games. Pennsylvania's Gaming Control Board said that it could take six to nine months to install casino table at the nine gaming facilities in the state.

 

2010-02-16
Sophie White