After struggling with bankruptcy, Showboat has announced its closure date of Aug. 31. It will be the second casino, after the Atlantic Club Casino, and the third poker room on the Boardwalk to close this year in Atlantic City. More than 2,000 Showboat employees were laid off in July. The closing will most likely bring further decline to Atlantic City casino revenue, which hasn’t made any progress in recovery since 2006.
Caesars Entertainment has made some changes to the poker layout of the city this year. All of its Boardwalk poker rooms have been consolidated to one giant room at the Wild Wild West, featuring its World Series of Poker platform. Showboat, which opened in 1987, will remain fully operational until the end of the month for anyone interested in visiting one last time.
PHILADELPHIA: Atlantic City’s decline in business is somewhat because of Philadelphia’s increase in casino revenue, including poker. Players in Philadelphia are getting excited for a new addition to the poker arena.
SugarHouse Casino is preparing its interim poker room to open in the fall. The room will include 24 tables and remain open for about 13 months until the expansion building finishes its construction.
SugarHouse poker room availability should be accessible via Bravo Poker Live by September.
Pennsylvania has gained enormous tax benefits since opening its first casino in 2006, and its revenue has surpassed Atlantic City. Internet gaming may just be the next step as the recent hearings suggest. Online poker is estimated to make $68M in tax revenue for Pennsylvania in the first year.
• Harrah’s held its Philadelphia Poker Open series featuring nine events in July. The schedule opened with a $40K guarantee that drew 375 entrants. The $50K guarantee main event will be recapped in the next issue.
• Parx’s Big Stax VII runs until Aug. 18. The series features three events with buy-ins of $300, $500, and $1,500 with starting stacks of 30K, 40K, and 50K, respectively.
• Sands is scheduled to host its Deep Stack Extravaganza tournament series on Aug. 14-25, featuring a $1,500 buy-in $250K guarantee main event. There will be 13 events, including an all-in-or-fold, stud/8 and a $30K guarantee black-chip bounty.
CONNECTICUT: The World Series of Poker Circuit will stop at Foxwoods on Aug. 14-25. The $1,675 main event is Aug. 23-25 and features $500K guarantee. The circuit will return to the area on Dec. 11- 22 at Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City.
Mohegan Sun hosted its Summer Showdown series July 30-Aug. 4, which included a $100K guarantee for its $1,100 main event. Look for results in a future issue.
— Email Jo Kim at anteupjokim@gmail.com.
