Rivers Casino Pittsburgh Hotel Nears Opening, as State Extends Gaming License

The Landing Hotel at Rivers Casino Pittsburgh is officially welcoming guests. It has been a long road for the Landing Hotel at Rivers Casino Pittsburgh, which has been preparing for this milestone for years. Rivers Casino received approval to break ground on the hotel but the project stalled owing to numerous challenges.

The Planning Commission initially approved the hotel for construction for the first time in 2017. However, the development process had to be postponed following the approval of gaming legislation that saw the addition of category 4 mini-casinos. This legislation is what consequently transformed the casino landscape in Pennsylvania.

The 210-room hotel will be situated in Chateau, a neighbourhood located along the Ohio River. The property is situated southeast of the casino, next to the Carnegie Science Center and Acrisure Stadium, which was the former home of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The hotel accepted its first reservations on November 7th and is expected to be one of the most visited casino hotels in the region. The 133,000-square-foot hotel will be 7 stories high and cost approximately $60 million to complete. The Landing Hotel Pittsburgh will be attached to the Rivers Casino thus allowing guests and punters to easily enjoy their gaming experience.

The hotel will offer guests free valet parking. However, it is the panoramic views of the Ohio River and Pittsburgh’s spectacular skyline that are expected to draw in visitors by the thousands. The hotel has made optimal use of the riverfront location and now features expansive windows on each level of the hotel to offer unobstructed views of the surroundings.

The Landing Hotel at Rivers Casino Pittsburgh is expected to offer an array of suites and rooms that range from standard rooms to massive 2-bedroom suites. Included in the rooms will also be 10 luxury terrace suites that will offer private patios on the first floor. Plus, for the super-elite, there will also be a 1400-square-foot presidential suite with 2 massive king bedrooms and 3 full baths.

The new Landing Hotel in Pittsburgh was designed by VOA while Klai Juba Wald was the executive architect for the hotel. Situated at the heart of the second most populated city in Pennsylvania, Rivers’ prime location will allow it to attract both gamblers and non-gamblers.  It is worth noting that this new Hotel will be Rivers Casino’s second Landing Hotel having opened the first one in Schenectady as part of the Rivers Casino complex at Mohawk Harbor.

Rivers Casino is one of the largest casino brands in the state

In addition to launching its new casino brand, Rivers casinos’ presence in the state was also amplified when the Gaming Control Board unanimously voted to renew the casino’s Holding acquisitions license in Allegheny County.  As a result, Rivers Casino’s license will be renewed for an additional 5 years.

To further consolidate its presence in the state, Rivers Casino also recently announced that it had topped $100 million in payments for PPG Paints Arena. In particular, Rivers Casino Pittsburgh has already paid $101.5 million which will be directed toward the construction of PPG Paints Arena.

According to the state Gaming board, Rivers Casino contributes almost $7.5 million each year to SEA. By 2038, the casino is expected to have contributed at least $225 million for Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, as well as for the state. Most of the funds are used to develop the city’s economy, as well as cushion the state’s tourism fund.

Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh opened its doors in 2009 and features a massive gaming floor with more than 2,708 slots, an excess of 150 table games, as well as 55 gaming seats and a sportsbooks lounge. Since it opened its doors, Rivers Casino has consistently ranked as one of the highest revenue generators in the state.

Case in point, in 2021, Rivers Casino Pittsburgh managed to generate approximately $251.3 million from its wide range of slot machines and $84.1 million from its available table games.  It also generated an additional $20 million from its sports betting vertical. The only other brick-and-mortar casino to beat Rivers Casino as far as physical gaming went was Wind Creek Bethlehem and Parx Casino.

Since the gambling market in Pennsylvania was legalized, the state has been neck and neck with other more established markets such as Nevada and New Jersey. The state has continually set yearly records for gambling revenues, exceeding $5 billion for the first-time year amid surging popularity for online casino games, as well as a post-pandemic return to brick-and-mortar slots and table games.

Not too long ago in September, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board reported that table games, slots, and online poker in the state managed to produce $112.5 million in gross revenue. In September 2022, slots generated approximately 70% of the total revenue at $77 million.

It should be noted that September also marked the 8th month that the state’s gross revenue from online casinos reached $100 million. And it’s not just online casino games that have been performing superbly. Retail casinos also recorded good returns this September.

In total, physical casinos in the state produced more than $448.5 million in gross revenue- most of which was unsurprisingly generated from slots. In particular, slot games generated $198 million for September with table games producing an additional $81 million to boot.

Sports betting has also been playing an instrumental role in the positive results. With the return of the NFL, as well as college football in September, in-person and online sports betting enjoyed a well-deserved boost in profits as well. Since the sports betting calendar will remain jam-packed for the rest of the year, the state is expected to keep enjoying the seasonal lift.

Final Thoughts

The gambling industry in Pennsylvania has never been more robust. Thanks to the addition of online casinos and sports betting, the 2022 fiscal results have been nothing short of impressive. As the year comes to a close, casinos, both online and offline are expected to keep performing even better than they have in the earlier months of 2022.