I agree with those that say you can't win here. I have spent literally hundreds of dollars playing the limited video poker machines with practically no payout. No wonder their revenue is up. They're stealing everyone's money!
Also, the cigarette smoke is so thick, I lost my voice. Very stuffy and crowded. Availability of food is a joke, and what there is, is greasy and the line is long. Will not return.
This is a horrible 'casino'. The parking lot is disgusting. It is outside - old and broken down as well as filled with trash. You have to walk a very long distance to get inside the casino. At night, many of the overhead lights are out making it dangerous and scary.
Inside, there are 2 floors stuffed with machines. They say there are places to eat, but we could not find them. Last year, there was a buffet on the 2nd floor, but they took that out and replaced it with more machines. When it was in operation, we ate there a few times. They had a very limited food selection and most of the times one of the few main courses was no longer available. The food was average.
As for the casino, the machines are extremely tight! It is very rare that you have any kind of hit on a machine and it is usually a small one. My guess is that Phila Park has all their machines set for the minimum allowable payback of 85% which is much lower than LV, AC and most other state's casinos, which generally run in the 90-95%.
We even tried the electronic BlackJack tables. They too operated in a 'more take than give' mode and many times it appeared as if the decks were 'rigged' in favor of the dealer. I suspect they have dramatically reduced the programmed payout percentages, as BJ is typically about a 98% payback game in a real casino.
The total lack of any kind of winnings make for a miserable experience.
All of the machines are coinless - they have the ticket printers. But trying to cash one of these things is like pulling teeth. Most of the cash machines that accept the tickets are broken, forcing you to hunt down one of the few people-staffed cages.
Phila Park is now building a new stand-alone casino as part of their agreement to obtaining their license (although they attempted to renig on this promise). I suspect not much will change there as they will simply move all the equipment and employees to the new building.
Everyone I know has stated that they will never visit there again.
I have been playing at this casino ever since it opened. There were frequent pay outs from the machines and? i think they did this to catch the people, now that they have the people they turn off the win switch.
I personally think the gaming board needs to do a surprise check on this casino and its books to see how often and how many winners they have for the month.You take $100.00 and in 20 mins. you lose everything without any profit, thats a Damn Shame!!!!
Philadelphia Park Casino is a poor example of a casino. First of all, you are forced to park outside and walk quite a distance.
Once inside, the converted horse ractrack is stuffed with many slot machines and little of anything else. The service is relatively poor. You do not see a security presence and the waitstaff appears very infrequently and sports an attitude. The worst part of the place is the horrible choice of gaming machines.
There are very few 'reasonably priced' machines. Most of them are higher denomination or multiple coin machines. You get the idea they are attempting to get rich quick.
The final insult is the extremely low hit rate on the machines. We normally play at Atlantic City where the payouts are not the greatest, but somewhat acceptable. But at Phila Park, it is like someone turned off the 'win' switch.
You can play for hours on the same machine and be rewarded with nothing more than a few credits by getting a Cherry once in a blue moon. The hit rates are so infrequent that it is not enjoyable to play there.
The management at this place must be very inexperienced at gaming. Once the word gets out that Philadelphia Park has poor payback rates, they will lose most of their customers. Greed does NOT pay.
The people park like animals. I have never seen so many people park in the striped corners of the lot, where you are not supposed to park. People also park in between handicapped spaces.
I was hoping I would like this place as it is the second closest casino to where I live in Norhteast NJ.
I drove to Harrah's Chester and played for 7 hours. Not only did I not lose money I won back half of what I had lost at this dump.
