Rivers Gets Table OK

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has given the green light to Rivers Casino to add 86 table games to their North Shore facility. The application calls for the games to be divided in to a pair of rooms. One will include 24 “non-bank” Poker Games. Those are tables where players compete against each other not the casino. The other 62 tables will host “bank games.” Rivers Casino Manager Todd Moyer says 42 will be Blackjack tables, 6 will be Craps tables, 3 will be Roulette tables, 3 tables will host Three-Card Poker tables, and 3 will be reserved for Texas Hold’em Bonus tables. Rounding out the list will be 2 Pai Gow Poker tables, 2 Mini Baccarat tables and 1 Big 6 wheel.
The application to the state says the addition of the games will create 309 full-time and 149 part-time jobs. Moyer says most of the dealers have already been hired and are in training. He says he expects to be making hires for additional security and food service staff soon. That same application promised the state that revenues from slot machines will not fall with the addition of the table games. Moyer says he thinks the markets for slots players is different than table games players. However, Moyer says they have heard from current customers asking for the addition of table games. Tax revenues from table games is split between the state’s general fund and local taxing bodies. Tax dollars from slots is split among the local municipalities and counties and property tax relief. Rivers Casino currently runs 3,000 slots machines and Moyer says that will not change.
Also yesterday, the state Gaming Control Board approved the table games application for the Sugarhouse Casino in Philadelphia. That means approvals are in place for all ten slots parlors in the state to add table games to their operations. The state will allow the games to open by region throughout July.