Twin River Casino’s Poker Room is a Response to Gaming Machines Placed in the Plainridge Racetrack Facility.
The Twin River Casino is Lincoln is set to open the first-ever poker room in Rhode Island. John Taylor, who serves as chairman of the Twin River Casino, announced this week the poker area would open in August 2016.
Lincoln is a town of 21,000 residents located near Pawtucket, which is itself located on the border with Massachusetts. In the past, Rhode Island casinos have caused consternation with gaming executives and state officials in Massachusetts, because they felt they targeted Massachusetts gamblers.
Plainridge versus Twin River
The operators of the Plainridge Racecourse in Plainville, Massachusetts in particular were concerned with the growing gaming industry in Rhode Island. In the past year, gaming machines were added to the Plainridge complex, in an attempt to retain casual gamblers from crossing the border for gaming.
The installation of the poker room at Twin River Casino is seen as a countermove to the installation of gaming machines. Now, the Rhode Island casino is going to have a poker room and gaming machines, while the Massachusetts racino is only going to have gaming machines. Thus is the way the expansion of gambling happens.
2012 Gaming Law and Casino Expansion
The right to expand gambling was decided in a referendum, which was stipulated by the 2012 gaming law which allowed table games to be added to the gaming location in 2012. Two locations were included in separate referendums: Twin River Casino and the Newport Grand Casino in the city of Newport on Aquidnek Island.
The people of Lincoln voted overwhelmingly for the expansion of gambling at their casino. The people of Newport voted down the proposition of poker tables. The push for poker games was led by a Facebook group, “Poker Room for Twin River”, which had called for their favorite card game for months.
16-Table Poker Room
Thus, Twin River Casino plans to add 28 gaming tables in all. Of those, 16 of the tables will be devoted to poker. Those tables are going to be set off in their own room. Favorite variants of poker, such as Texas hold’em, Omaha hold’em, and seven-card stud are likely to be offered. Texas hold’em is going to command the majority of the gaming area for poker.
At present, the casino has 4,500 gaming machines and 65 gaming tables. The tables were added quickly after the vote was passed to allow such tables, but no poker area was established. The opening of the poker room in August will complete the expansion of the casino gaming area.
John Taylor on Expansion
John Taylor released a message directed at those who had called for a poker room at the Lincoln facility. Taylor said, “An important part of our business philosophy has been to listen to what our customers want, and the addition of a poker room is one of most often heard requests. We’re thrilled to increase the number of table games we currently offer, which also means we will expand our workforce once again.”
The chairman said that his casino will continue to look for ways to remain competitive in the evolving and increasingly saturated brick-and-mortar casino industry of New England. In the years to come, the emerging threat to both Plainridge and Twin River will be the Wynn Everett Casino which is being built in the Boston area.
The Wynn Everett is a $1.6 billion or $1.7 billion integrated resort on the banks of the Mystic River in the Boston suburb of Everett. Despite a series of controversies involving its opening, Steve Wynn’s latest gaming development is likely to be a threat to any smaller gaming venues in Western Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
