NASHUA, N.H. – Boston Billiard Club & Casino has been renamed Gate City Casino 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 (http://TheGateCityCasino.com) are launching today, and most exterior and interior casino signage and items such as poker chips reflecting the new name will be in place this week.
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 $15 million 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 nearly 300 HHR gaming machines.
The remaining 200-plus 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 randomizing the outcome of a play, they determine winners based on previously run horse races.
In addition, the new DraftKings Sportsbook opening this week at Gate City Casino will feature 12 self-service sports betting kiosks and an over-the-counter window for patrons to place wagers. The space will also include 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.
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.”
About Gate City Casino
Gate City Casino, formerly Boston Billiard Club & Casino, in Nashua, N.H., offers a variety of well-known casino games, including 19 table games featuring roulette and Spanish 21, and a 20-table poker room that regularly hosts tournaments that draw players from throughout New England. The casino has added historical horse racing (HHR) gaming machines, which look and operate much like other gaming machines, as well as the Lucky North players reward club and a DraftKings sportsbook. The spacious venue also offers a restaurant and sports bar with several large-screen televisions, outdoor beer garden with fire pits and space for cornhole and other outdoor games. Gate City Casino is conveniently located at 55 Northeastern Blvd. in Nashua near U.S. Route 3 and only minutes from greater Boston. As a charitable gaming facility in New Hampshire, Gate City Casino contributes a substantial portion of all daily gaming proceeds to local nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations. Gate City Casino is owned and operated by Delaware North, a global leader in the hospitality and entertainment industry. Learn more at http://TheGateCityCasino.com and connect with Gate City Casino on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
New name pays homage to Nashua and reflects casino’s major expansion plans with 500 HHR gaming machines, DraftKings Sportsbook and planned hotel move