Parx Casino north of Philadelphia in Bensalem says it’s amending its hotel plans from new construction to acquisition.
The Inn at Fox Chase, then a Holiday Inn, is seen in 2018 with Parx Casino in the distance. Parx is acquiring the 167-room hotel and scrapping plans to build a new luxury hotel on the casino grounds. (Image: Tripadvisor)
Just days after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court revealed it would review the legality of skill games, the slot-like machines that have inundated small businesses across the commonwealth, Parx, the richest casino in the state, said the judicial outcome will weigh heavily on whether it moves forward with constructing a 300-room luxury hotel and events center. The casino owned and operated by Greenwood Racing Inc. and its subsidiary Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment, controlled by British gaming businessmen Bob Green and Bill Hogwood, has instead opted to invest in acquiring a nearby hotel.
Greenwood has put its luxury hotel plans on hold in favor of buying the Inn at Fox Chase, a 167-room hotel located just across Casino Way. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but the hotel was sold just a year ago for $13.75 million.
The Inn at Fox Chase maintains a 3.8/5-star rating on Google based on 112 reviews. Google labels the hotel as a three-star property.
Skill Game Worries
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will soon begin reviewing state Attorney General Michelle Henry’s claims that skill games — commonly branded Pennsylvania Skill — are illegal gambling machines. Lower courts have ruled that the games aren’t subject to the state’s Gaming Act because their elements of skill allow a proficient player to alter the payout rate and therefore chance isn’t the only factor.
Henry alleges that the skill element is minimal, often involving a player simply tapping on the corresponding symbols of a winning payline. Proponents of skill games say the revenue, which is split between the host business and games’ manufacturers and distributors, played critical roles in fending off pandemic pressures and subsequent inflation.
Opponents, including Pennsylvania’s 17 brick-and-mortar casinos, say the machines constitute illegal gambling and cut into their slot business. Skill games aren’t taxed or regulated, while casinos pay tens of millions of dollars in licensing fees for their slot privileges and give more than half of the terminals’ gross win to the state via tax.
Speaking with the Philadelphia Business Journal, Parx Chief Marketing Officer Marc Oppenheimer said the threat from skill games put its $100 million hotel project plans on hold.
Until we have greater clarity on those things, we weren’t comfortable making a nine-figure investment,” Oppenheimer said.
The American Gaming Association estimates that there are at least 67K unlicensed and unregulated skill games in Pennsylvania.
Hotel Upgrades
Parx Casino plans to refurbish the Inn at Fox Chase, with the top sixth floor being entirely overhauled to include luxury suites. The hotel’s five other floors were recently renovated, as was the lobby. The hotel will remain open during the sixth-floor work and current reservations won’t be impacted.
The Inn at Fox Chase workforce will also have the ability to retain their employment with Parx. The hotel acquisition is expected to close this week.
Parx generated gross gaming revenue (GGR) of $588.2 million on its physical casino floor last year, which led the state casino industry. Parx’s online operations added $58.3 million in GGR and its oddsmakers kept $17.4 million of bettors’ wagers.
When Greenwood applied for a casino license in 2006, company officials told the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board that its master plan included an on-site hotel. Since opening the casino in September 2006, Parx has offered its loyalty members reduced nightly rates at the Inn at Fox Chase.
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