Operator News
US – Boston Billiard Club & Casino has been renamed Gate City
By Phil - 5 September 2023
Boston Billiard Club & Casino has changed its identity to Gate City to pay homage to Nashua and reflect its major expansion as a leading gaming destination in New Hampshire and the Greater Boston region.
The casino’s management team has been working toward the transition for several months. An advertising campaign and new website have been launched along with exterior and interior casino signage and items such as poker chips reflecting the new name.
Delaware North, the global hospitality and entertainment company that purchased Boston Billiard Club & Casino in October, explored new names that would be more appropriate for a casino in Nashua and reflect its move away from billiards to adding historic horse racing (HHR) gaming machines and a DraftKings Sportsbook to complement the venue’s table games and poker room.
The Nashua operation was the last remaining location of a small chain of billiard clubs that originated in 1990 in Boston.
“Boston Billiard Club & Casino has been a popular entertainment venue in Nashua since 2000 and is the longest operating charitable casino in the city, contributing more than $15m to local and state charitable organizations since 2016,” said Brian Hansberry, president of Delaware North’s gaming division.
“We renamed it the Gate City Casino to pay homage to its location and history in Nashua. Much like Nashua’s history as the travel and economic/cultural “gateway” between the major city of Boston to Manchester, Concord and all of New Hampshire, the new name reflects the expanded casino’s significance to the region. The name is both hyperlocal to appeal to our host community and broad sounding as an open gate to attract customers from neighboring cities and towns,” Hansberry said.
Work on the casino’s expansion into adjacent space at 55 Northeastern Blvd. is continuing. A new, expanded poker room opened in the space earlier this month, and the casino now has more than 300 HHR gaming machines.
The remaining 200 additional gaming machines are scheduled to be operational by mid-October, bringing the total to more than 500. HHR gaming machines look and operate much like other gaming machines, but instead of randomising the outcome of a play, they determine winners based on previously run horse races.
In addition, the new DraftKings Sportsbook opened this week at Gate City Casino, featuring 12 self-service sports betting kiosks and an over-the-counter window for patrons to place wagers. The space also includes multiple television screens to watch sporting events with food and beverage service only a few steps away at Gate City Casino’s restaurant and sports bar.
“With the start of the NFL season just a few weeks away, we look forward to welcoming fans into the DraftKings Sportsbook at Gate City Casino during the most energetic time of year for sports betting.” said Michael Kibort, senior director for retail sportsbooks at DraftKings
Delaware North is also working toward moving Gate City Casino to the 337-room Sheraton Nashua hotel, which the company acquired last October along with the casino. Locating the casino at the hotel would help entice visitors from the region, including Massachusetts.
“While we are completing the expansion at the current location, our vision is to house the casino at the hotel within a couple of years,” Hansberry said, adding that could take a year of renovations to accomplish. “We want to provide onsite accommodations for casino patrons traveling from greater Boston and the New England region.”
