Sunday, December 5, 2010

My Review: SugarHouse Casino left me feeling salty ~ Go to Harrah's in Chester

Before I went to the Meadowlands to watch the Duke v Butler rematch, I stopped at SugarHouse Casino in Philadelphia.  The casino opened in September.  It was on the way to the venue for the game, and I figured it made sense to review it for you guys.  ****  I review the metrics of this blog often and my review of Hollywood Casino in Charles Town, WV is a popular post along with my review of Harrah's in Chester, PA so here you go!

This review will be brief. It was a Saturday morning (i.e. approximately 10AM).  As soon as I walked into SugarHouse, I was greeted my a lady at the door who asked me if I had a player's card.  I didn't so she swiped my driver's license and printed me a card right then and there.  That's convenient.  I liked the fact that I didn't need to wait in a line, but let's face it ~ the casino wasn't packed for a Saturday morning.

I've always wondered what kind of people, wake up and intentionally go to a casino "first thing" in the morning.  I'm not even going to begin to tackle that question here.  Regardless, the slot machines were dong some a decent amount of business.

I'll focus on craps because that's what I paid attention to.  There were about 10 people spread over 3 tables trying their luck with the dice.  About 3 people were consistent "don't pass" players and were achieving a nice little pay-out with each shooter since the tables were cold.

There is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON for SugarHouse to have their craps tables set at a $15 minimum.   There is competition only a few exits away at Harrah's.  Further, Harrah's (i.e. Caesar's) brand is much more ubiquitous than the independent SugarHouse venue.  I reviewed the Harrah's casino in Chester previously and my only real complaint is that the craps dealers are learning. 

****  There are only 2 dealers at the Harrah's in Chester that I trust to know the payouts.  There is one female dealer at the Harrah's in Chester that is very slow and prone to error when paying out the table, and I've actually seen her be removed from a table when a high-roller is playing.

I have no idea what odds were offered at SugarHouse, because it wasn't prominently displayed (i.e. it was early, but I think I would've seen it, had it been posted).  It didn't matter though.  Although the dealers and the staff were nice, appeared sharper, and knew the payouts better than the staff at Harrah's in Chester ~ at the end of the day SugarHouse left me feeling salty.  There's no reason to play a $15 minimum table when a $10 table is down the street and will earn you more "rewards".  Further, who wants to be the person who wins playing "don't pass"?

My $15 opinion?  Skip SugarHouse and go to Harrah's.


THE WIRK

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