Harrah’s Opens PA Horse Track: Slots Coming Soon

The more than $450 million Harrah’s Chester Casino & Racetrack debuted to much fanfare this week as the company began operating races at an all-new track while also offering simulcasts at some of the country’s best known tracks.

If all goes according to plan, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board will approve the Harrah’s license and debut 2,700 slot machines in January. Harrah’s executives met with the Gaming Control Board executives on Monday to explain why the company should receive a license. The Board’s decision is pending.

When approved, and all indications are that Harrah’s will get the license, it will be the first facility in the state to have slot machines up and running (with betting increments ranging from one penny to $100) of an expected 14 once all the licenses have been issued. Though Harrah’s seems to have their license all wrapped up, question still remains who will operate the other facilities.

Harrah’s should have more than a whole year’s advantage on most of the other facilities which will still have to be built once licenses are issued.

Live racing will take place on Sundays, Mondays, and Thursdays through Monday, December 18, with a daily first post time of 12:45 p.m. Full-card simulcasting of both Thoroughbred and Standardbred simulcast signals from tracks such as Belmont, Saratoga, The Meadowlands, The Red Mile, Keeneland, Gulfstream and Del Mar will presented daily.

Harrah's Chester features a 5/8-mile harness racetrack with a 1,500-seat outdoor grandstand and an indoor wagering parlor with additional seating. There is a 20,000-square-foot outdoor deck to give patrons a view of the home stretch. The casino itself will be more than 110,000 square feet when complete.

Still to open are a buffet, steakhouse, diner and other amenities.

The city of Chester expects to gain 900 new jobs and $10 million a year in gambling revenues. The county will get a cut between a $6 million to $10 million once the slots are in place.

"It’s a great day for Delaware County, and a great day for the city of Chester," said Delaware County Councilman Michael Puppio from the winner’s circle during the first day of live racing on Sunday, September 10. "If the crowd today is any indication, this will be a stunning success for Harrah’s and the Delaware County waterfront."

The new Harrah's Chester is expected to get three million visitors a year, making it the most popular attraction in the Philadelphia area.

“Instantaneously, we become the single-most visited tourist destination in the Philadelphia area,” David N. Sciocchetti, executive director of the Chester Economic Development Authority said in a statement. “Overnight, we get a tourist-recreation segment to our economy that never existed before. You have to go back a long time to count three million visitors to Chester. Now we're going to have that many each year.”

The racetrack is built on the former site of the 64-acre Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., which had sat empty and dilapidated for years.

In 2002, former state Rep. Joseph Lashinger announced the $23 million Chester Downs and Marina, who along with two other partners planned to bring harness racing back to Pennsylvania. The project sat idle for nearly two years until the Pennsylvania Harness Racing Commission unanimously approved a partnership between Chester Downs and Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. At that point the project morphed into its current incarnation and construction quickly commenced on the facility.

For many, the highlight of the project’s engineering is a the track’s first turn which goes over the water and the former Shipbuilding and Drydock Company’s abandoned docks. The $12 million turn is an engineering marvel and also makes the track the most expensive to build in the world.

When Pennsylvania gaming is up and running it is widely expected to take a bite out of Atlantic City profits, which is only an hour’s drive away. To stave off any loss in income, the city’s 13 casinos have been quick to add many amenities to make them a multi-day full service resort destination.

Last week, word of a new Atlantic City casino resort project was leaked to the world. However, no details on the project have been made available by Pinnacle Entertainment, which will design and build the project expected to have more than 2,000 hotel rooms and replace the aging Sands Casino it bought last week for $250 million.

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