Gate City Casino New Hampshire Opening This Week, Replacing Boston Billiard Club & Casino

Article ByDavid Weir

October 24, 2023

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Posted in: New Hampshire Gambling News, US Casino News, US Gambling News

The Gate City Casino in Nashua, New Hampshire, formerly known as the Boston Billiard Club & Casino, has undergone a significant transformation and expansion. It has added 200 new slots-style historical horse racing machines and a new DraftKings sportsbook.

Casino owner Delaware North is looking to make a splash among New Hampshire casino venues, with its ribbon-cutting ceremony later this week.

“We renamed it the Gate City Casino to pay homage to its location and history in Nashua,” said Brian Hansberry, president of Delaware North’s gaming division.

“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.”

Expansion and Renaming

The casino’s management team has been working towards the transition for several months. It started an advertising campaign and had a new website launching to coincide with the name change.

The casino’s expansion includes the addition of 200 historic horse racing (HHR) gaming machines, a new addition to the list of New Hampshire retail sportsbooks, powered by DraftKings, and plans for a new hotel.

The new DraftKings venue features 12 self-service sports betting kiosks, large viewing screens, and an over-the-counter betting window, providing patrons with a comprehensive sports betting experience.

HHR machines use historic horse racing results and footage, combined with a slots-style betting experience. They play with a fast pace, a mix of slots gaming and horse race betting.

The new name reflects the expansion in offerings, from the previous card room and bar sports model to a slot machine-like casino venture.

Boston Billiards was once a regional chain, which started in 1990 in Boston. With the official reopening of the Nashua venue as Gate City Casino, the chain is no more.

Related: New Hampshire online casinos, rated and reviewed

Community Impact

Since it opened in 2000, Boston Billard Club & Casino has been a popular entertainment venue in Nashua. It has contributed more than $15 million to local and state charitable organizations since 2016. The casino’s charitable gaming facility contributes a substantial portion of all gaming proceeds to local nonprofit organizations in the state, showing its importance to the local economy.

Delaware North is also working towards moving the Gate City Casino to the 337-room Sheraton Nashua hotel, which the company acquired last October along with the casino.

The move aims to attract visitors from the region, including Massachusetts, by providing onsite accommodations for casino patrons traveling from greater Boston and the New England region. The relocation could take a year of renovations to accomplish.

“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.

Delaware North was involved this year in a controversy over its New York casino venues. The operator’s former board member and shareholder, William Hochul, is married to New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D)

That meant the Governor recusing herself from key negotiations on a new gaming compact with The Seneca Nation, with a proposed deal eventually imploding with allegations of backroom deals over a potential New York casino in Rochester.

Eventually, Bill Hochul resigned from his position at Delaware North and the negotiations are now back on with the Governor at the table.