The past two weeks have signaled a return for live poker in two of the nation’s biggest poker states. In addition to the four Pennsylvania poker rooms that have reopened in the past two weeks, Atlantic City’s biggest poker room, Borgata, reopened as the first live New Jersey poker room. (4) Breaking Down The Best Live Poker Rooms In Pennsylvania (5) The General Assembly of Pennsylvania, Senate Bill 1386, Session of 2014 #1 Editor's Choice All-in-One Gambling Site. Pennsylvania Texas Holdem Card Rooms. Pennsylvania boasts 10 Texas holdem poker rooms which are spread out nicely, meaning you won’t ever have to travel far to find a table. Most poker rooms here are.
Poker rooms slowly started to reopen at casinos in Pennsylvania nearly seven months after the casinos and, subsequently, poker games were shut down in March as a result of coronavirus.
Due to the social nature of the game, poker rooms were not permitted to welcome back players when casinos started reopening in June.
Five poker rooms reopened as of mid-November, with Parx, the state’s largest, set to return in December. The city of Philadelphia added restrictions including another shutdown of Rivers Casino Philadelphia until at least Jan 1, taking away another option for live poker.
One poker room continues to remain conspicuously quiet — Wind Creek Casino.
Wins and losses for Wind Creek
Wind Creek is one of the larger poker rooms in Pennsylvania with 26 tables. Located in Bethlehem, PA, it’s in a prime spot to attract visitors from New York City and northern New Jersey.
A representative from Wind Creek told PlayPennsylvania they had no update on when the poker room would open. On Nov. 18, Wind Creek opened the Betfred sportsbook. The sportsbook is the first for Wind Creek in the United States and the third US retail location for Betfred Sports.
Wind Creek claimed a number of honors from Casino Player Magazine in October, including being named best:
- Overall Gaming Resort
- Table Games
- Poker Room
However, it hasn’t been all good news at Wind Creek Casino. Wind Creek announced layoffs on Sept. 24 that affected about 20% of its workforce. Total revenue in October was $33.1 million, a 16.41% decrease from October 2019.
Wind Creek provided the following statement to LehighValleyLive regarding recent layoffs:
“With recent business volumes significantly lower than we had hoped, we were forced to make this incredibly difficult decision. The hospitality and gaming industries have been crippled by the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe that our reduction in workforce will, in the long term, positively affect our future success.”
In addition, Wind Creek announced the permanent closure of Emeril’s Fish House.
A Wind Creek employee provided an update on some of the happenings at Wind Creek, including the poker room. The person agreed to share their insight based on the condition of anonymity.
“When Wind Creek shut down in mid-March, they could’ve easily had a mass layoff, but they didn’t. They continued to pay all employees until May 31, 2020. Even those that work on tips got an average hourly wage, and they continued to pay for benefits. Most casinos around the country just straight up laid off hundreds of dealers back in the spring.”
On June 1, the poker room employees were furloughed. They stopped getting paid, but the full-time workers could keep their health benefits as long as biweekly premiums were paid. On Sept. 30, all poker room employees were laid off/terminated and the poker room was made into a high-limit slots parlor.
“We were told it was being turned into a high-limit slots parlor for the time being. Obviously, a casino makes way more money on slot machines than a poker room, so I believe they’re focusing on that right now.”
The employee said it is their belief, along with other employees, that the poker room is not closed permanently and will eventually reopen.
“The plan is to reopen the poker room in the future. But who knows what the future entails considering what is looking like another round of closures? Wind Creek does see the value in the poker room, but I think right now they’re trying to recover from the major financial hit they took during the 3.5 months we were closed up. The client base of the poker room really enjoyed playing at Wind Creek. I know some of them think it’s closed permanently, but that isn’t likely the case.”
Poker pales in revenue comparison
In fiscal year 2019-20, poker accounted for $37 million in total revenue across the state’s 10 poker rooms. That number pales in comparison to the $607 million in total revenue by all other table games.
Casinos, trying to recover from an unprecedented financial hit as a result of COVID-19 closures and operating at reduced capacity, are likely allocating resources to games that generate more revenue.
In late August, PlayPennsylvaniaexclusively reported that Harrah’s Philadelphia would not reopen its WSOP poker room.
Meanwhile, PokerStars PA remains the only online poker option in the state — for now.
Poker Rooms Free
Pennsylvania poker revenue by casino
As you can see from the table below, live poker is not the biggest revenue earner for PA casinos (though it can help drive other verticals).
2019-20 fiscal year poker revenue in PA (figures from the PGCB):
| Tables | Gross Revenue | |
|---|---|---|
| Parx | 48 | $12.1 million |
| Rivers Casino Philadelphia | 28 | $6.1 million |
| Wind Creek | 26 | $5.9 million |
| Rivers Pittsburgh | 30 | $4.5 million |
| Hollywood Casino | 17 | $2.3 million |
| Harrah's Philadelphia (now closed) | 27 | $2.2 million |
| Mohegan Sun | 9 | $1.4 million |
| The Meadows | 14 | $1.1 million |
| Mount Airy | 12 | $757,893 |
| Presque Isle | 7 | $682,906 |
The live poker room at Harrah’s Philadelphia appears to be permanently closed.
According to various social media posts by current and former employees, they received word about the decision on Aug. 11.
Harrah’s Philly poker room closed for good?
Various poker room employees at Harrah’s Philadelphia posted on social media about losing their poker-dealing jobs. On the condition of anonymity, a now-former employee (“Jake”) discussed what’s happening at Harrah’s Philadelphia poker room with Play Pennsylvania.
He confirmed that the room is closed, with no plans to reopen it. Management’s calls to poker room employees came via Zoom on Aug. 11. Jake said that they did not offer anyone positions within the organization. However, Harrah’s did say if employees had experience in tables games, they could apply, just the same as anyone else coming in off the street, for openings.
Those who asked if any classes would be offered for table games did not get a clear “yes” or “no” answer.
Play Pennsylvania reached out to Harrah’s regarding the poker room, but they declined to comment.
Silent on social media
Harrah’s Philadelphia poker room’s Twitter handle no longer exists. Its Facebook page has not been updated since March 13.
Asked whether the poker room closure was permanent, a customer service representative at Harrah’s Philadelphia said:
“It’s closed as of now. We don’t have a date of reopening.”
World Series of Poker-branded room
Harrah’s opened a live poker room in 2010 on the floor below the main gaming floor near where race track betting takes place.
On April 26, 2019, after extensive renovations, Harrah’s Philadelphia became home to the World Series of Poker poker room. Harrah’s corporate parent company Caesars Entertainment owns the popular World Series of Poker brand. Those brands are now housed under Eldorado Resorts, which officially absorbed Caesars mere months ago, maintaining the Caesars brand name.
Last fall, Harrah’s underwent a number of major renovations, including the new retail sportsbook the Book and a Topgolf Swing Suite.
General Manager Chris Albrechttold the Philadelphia Business Journal:
“The poker room was moved from racing level to casino floor to have all gaming action on one floor. It was part of the reimagination of the back of the casino with new sportsbook and Topgolf.”
Parx has the largest live poker room in PA, with 48 tables.
Harrah’s had 27 tables and a full slate of poker promotions and tournaments. On their website, they boasted:
Pennsylvania Poker Rooms Reopen
“WSOP Poker Room spreads Texas Hold’em, Seven Card Stud, and Omaha. With nonstop action and a range of blinds, even the most discriminating Philadelphia gambler will find a perfectly suited game for their taste. Limit games range from $2-4-6 to $20-40, while No Limit games range from $1-2 to $10-25.”
The following pictures were taken at the vacated Harrah’s Philadelphia poker room in July 2020.
Poker rooms in PA still closed
Poker Rooms Pennsylvania Pa
In mid-March, all 12 Pennsylvania casinos closed to slow the spread of coronavirus. Harrah’s Philadelphia reopened on June 26.
When casinos’ home county moved to the “green phase,” they could reopen at reduced capacity (up to 50%). The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) laid out updated health and safety protocols, which included, to start, that poker rooms could not operate due to players handling cards and chips. They said they’d monitor and adjust according to guidance from the CDC and the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
PGCB Director of Communications Doug Harbachgave this update to Play Pennsylvania on Aug. 25:
“There has been no alteration to the casino reopening protocols released by the Gaming Control Board in May in which poker rooms were not authorized to operate. At the same time, this guideline can be reexamined based on health experts’ guidance. Should casinos wish to explore reopening a casino room, it would need to provide plans to do so safely which would be reviewed by the board on a case-by-case basis.”
WSOP online poker plans in PA
While live poker is off the menu for the time being (and perhaps permanently at some casinos, like Harrah’s), PA poker players still have legal, regulated as an option. PokerStars PA was the first online poker operator to launch in PA, doing so in November 2019. The lone operator has done well in Pennsylvania, peaking in April with revenue of nearly $5.3 million when all casinos were still shuttered.
And while live poker rooms remain closed, online poker revenue at PokerStars has come down to a reasonable yet healthy $3.0 million for July. But it looks as if PA will soon have more online poker options in partypoker(through BetMGM/ROAR Digital) and, ironically, WSOP.com.
Caesars (through Harrah’s Philly) launched online sports betting and online casino products in PA in March and April, respectively.
While no timeline has been announced for the launch of a WSOP online poker room in PA, we know regulatory approval is underway. That makes for rather unfortunate timing for Caesars’ live poker partner to fold, it would seem. But in 2020, anything is possible.
Note: This is a developing story. PlayPennsylvania will provide the latest updates on the Harrah’s poker room closing as they become available.