Just in time for football, Parx opens its highly anticipated Sportsbook

With a ceremonial snip of a red ribbon emblazoned with the gambling den’s logo, Parx casino in Bensalem officially christened its permanent sports book Thursday afternoon.

Dubbed the Sportsbook, the state-of-the-art betting parlor clocks in at 7,400 square feet. The space is dominated by a 156-foot HD media rig that can screen up to 36 different events at the same time. Other features include six live tellers, 18 kiosks, 196 plush seats, three VIP areas and a 38-foot-long, 38-seat bar (with a “bar food” menu). The overall capacity is 425.

The grand opening of the $10 million Sportsbook—which was presided over by various Parx officials, local politicians and former Eagles’ defensive great Ike Reese, now a WIP-FM gabber—marks the final stage of the property’s $70 million upgrade that was begun in 2017 and which also includes new restaurants, a beer garden, a poker room and the Xcite Center, which has established itself as a top-flight headliner venue.

While the idea is obviously for people to come to the Sportsbook to bet, Marc Oppenheimer, Parx’s chief marketing officer, suggested the facility’s appeal shouldn’t end there.

“In my mind, the Sportsbook is going to be the best spot in [the Philadelphia area] to watch games—and, obviously bet on them if you want to,” he said.

Oppenheimer added the timing of Thursday’s ceremony—hours before the kickoff of the Eagles-Titans pre-season contest that unofficially kicks off the 2019 season--wasn’t coincidental. He admitted that some “final touches” weren’t applied until earlier Thursday, but explained that “As soon as we started to realize we’re going to be done the first week of August, we said, ‘Let’s open it on the eighth for the first Eagles game.’"