PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- As the Twin River Casino adds more table games, it will hire approximately 90 more employees, the chairman of the Lincoln casino's board of directors confirmed Wednesday.
Earlier this month, the state Director of Revenue put lawmakers on notice that the Lottery had approved an increase in the number of table games at Twin River from 66 to 80.
On Wednesday, Twin River Chairman John E. Taylor, Jr., issued this statement: "When we began table games on June 19th of this year we had some confidence of their success but clearly, they have exceeded our expectations, particularly during certain times of the day such as early afternoons and week nights.
"We think the time is right to expand our table game offering as evidenced by our success in just two short months, and by the number of guests waiting to play at certain tables, particularly during weekend hours."
Taylor said close to 560 new employees have been hired since the referendum to allow table games was passed by Rhode Island voters in November of 2012, for a total workforce now of 1,448. He said more than 80 percent are Rhode Islanders.
"The approximately 90 new employees to support the introduction of 14 more games are above and beyond that, and hiring will commence immediately,'' he said.
"We are proud of the fact that we have not only exceeded the employment promise we made during the campaign, but have assembled a workforce comprised of dedicated, hardworking professionals with strong ties to this state,'' he said.
"Last, we are of course proud that revenue to the state from the first month and a half of table games operations was significant, more than $1 million, along with increased VLT revenue this July as compared to last year. This is a promising beginning for table games, and good news for the state,'' he said.
State sponsored gambling is the third largest source of revenue for the state. The state's share of the electronic gambling machines is close to 61 cents out of every dollar a gambler leaves behind, only18 percent of the table game revenue, so the mix is important to the state's revenue watchers and numbers crunchers.
Twin River has not yet disclosed the breakdown of the new table games that will be added to the mix. But Taylor said Gilbane Building Company and JCJ Architecture have been re-engaged to complete construction, at an estimated cost of $1 million.
He said the number of video lottery terminals (VLTs) will remain at 4,538 units.
(The original version of this story was revised at 12:50 p.m. to correct the number of video lottery terminals at terminals at Twin River.)