The Tiverton Town Council approved on Thursday a one-year pilot program that would allow the town’s new casino to offer gambling 24 hours a day, local news outlets report.
The approval came a week after Twin River Tiverton Casino owners announced that construction of the property was going ahead of schedule and it would open doors a month earlier. Rhode Island’s new gambling venue is now set to swing its doors open for guests and visitors on September 1.
During a special meeting of Tiverton’s Town Council on Thursday night, councilors voted 4-3 to approve the request made by the new casino’s management for 24-hour operation of gambling services.
Twin River Casino will thus be able to operate slot machines, table games and sports betting 24 hours a day for a period of one year under the pilot program the Town Council greenlighted on Thursday. Owners of the casino will be required to provide quarterly reports to town officials on public safety and whether it is impacted by the around-the-clock gambling operations.
The Town Council could hold a show-cause hearing if its spots any violations within two months after the end of the pilot program. Tiverton officials will then decide whether the 24-hour operation of gaming and betting services would become permanent.
No 24-Hour Alcohol Service
While gamblers will be treated to 24-hour gambling service, alcohol at the new property will only be services within a particular timeframe throughout the day, local media outlets reported Thursday. The Tiverton Town Council allowed for beverages to be served to customers from 10 am to 1 am on weekdays and from 10 am to 2 am during weekends.
Twin River Casino will operate with a license transferred from the now-shuttered Newport Grand casino. The latter gaming venue operated from 10 am to 1 am during weekdays and from 10 am to 2 am on Friday and Saturday. However, owners have requested that their new Tiverton casino be allowed to operate 24 hours a day to secure its profitability. Twin River Casino in Lincoln, which is owned by the same group – Twin River Management Group, also operates 24 hours a day.
Despite the Thursday approval of the 24-hour casino operations, the casino owners’ request was met with quite some opposition by some councilors as well as town residents. Some of them pointed out that they were not aware of the fact that they were casting their vote for a casino that would operate around the clock during the November 2016 referendum.
Twin River Tiverton has been promoted as a “convenience casino” by its owners. The property was originally expected to launch this summer but different hurdles hampered construction forcing the group behind the project to postpone the grand opening for October. As mentioned above, the casino is now slated for a September 1 launch as construction seems to be progressing smoothly and ahead of schedule.
