(School applications are being accepted, and class will likely start in late August.) The school will be free for people who live within the Penn Treaty Special Services District, a special district set up within the neighborhoods around the casino to accept community contributions from the casino. SugarHouse says it will recruit a mix of experienced and newly trained dealers to fill these spots and will offer a poker dealer school to train current employees and other applicants. The interim poker room will create 100 new jobs, 80 of which will be poker dealers. SugarHouse says the full expansion will create 1,600 construction jobs, and once complete, will add 500 new full- and part-time jobs to the current 1,100-person SugarHouse staff. Groundbreaking is a huge milestone for us.” “Our guests and team have been waiting for this moment, and we’re excited to say that it’s finally here. “We are thrilled to be one step closer to the bigger and better SugarHouse Casino,” Wendy Hamilton, general manager of SugarHouse Casino, said in a printed statement. It will have food and beverage service and feature state-of-the-art tables that will move to the permanent space next year. The $2.9 million interim poker room is being built on the south side of the property facing the Ben Franklin Bridge so as not to interfere with work on the permanent expansion to the north. But this fall, SugarHouse will open an interim, 24-table poker room “to meet Philly’s high demand for poker,” a company statement says. The permanent poker room will open with the rest of the addition in 2015.

In addition to the poker tables, 30 additional table games and 400 additional slots will be added. The gaming floor will increase from about 50,000 square feet to 85,000 square feet. The new space will be added to the north side of the 1001 N. The casino is adding a multi-purpose event space with waterfront views, new restaurants, a parking garage, and a 30-table poker room. SugarHouse Casino launched work on its $164 million expansion project Tuesday morning. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board hasn’t picked a winner for the city’s second casino license.

Sugarhouse casino event space