Rivers Casino officials presented a plan for the addition of a $50-million hotel to the Pittsburgh-located gambling venue during a Tuesday hearing before the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. Apart from this, executives and board members discussed the renewal of the casino’s operating license.
Members of different groups and organizations which have benefited from the gambling venue in one way or another also attended the three-hour-long hearing. Furthermore, more than a hundred Rivers Casino workers rallied in front of the Allegheny County Courthouse, where the meeting took place, calling for being allowed to start a union at the facility.
Inside the building, David Patent, President and Chief Operating Officer of Rush Street Gaming LLC, the company in charge of Rivers Casino’s operations, explained that they intend to add a 200- to 250-room hotel on the east side of the casino property, not far from the Carnegie Science Center. The executive pointed out that they have already started discussing the matter with city officials, the science center, and the non-profit environmental organization Riverlife.
According to Mr. Patent, they are to break ground on the project sometime in the first quarter of 2016, if everything goes as planned. The casino and hotel buildings are to be connected and to share a valet entrance.
Mr. Patent pointed out that about 105 permanent jobs are expected to be created once the new facility is completed. In addition, almost $30 million would be generated in gaming tax revenue and almost $5 million in county hotel and sales taxes within the first five years of the hotel’s operations.
Rivers Casino officials have been considering the addition of a hotel since the gambling venue opened doors back in 2009. Last year, they started studying the matter more closely, as the casino began losing customers to venues located in Ohio and other neighboring states.
According to the figures executives presented to the state gaming regulator, Rivers Casino has contributed as much as $938.4 million in both state and local tax revenue for the past six years. However, the tax revenue dropped from $174.1 million in 2012 to $168.9 million in 2014. The decline was partly attributed to the competition from surrounding states.
As mentioned above, a number of Rivers Casino workers, who are also members of the Steel City Casino Workers Council, protested in front of the courthouse asking for a permission to unionize 800 people employed at the casino.
Inside the Allegheny County Courthouse, Jack Shea, Allegheny County Labor Council asked the state gaming regulator to force casino officials to discuss the matter with the rallying workers. William Ryan Jr., Chairman of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, said that usually, such issues are solved between managers and employees without the regulator’s interference.
Mr. Patent commented that workers are free to decide as to whether they want to join a labor union as long as this is done by means of a fair and secret vote, which needs to be supervised by the National Labor Relations Board.
