Parx vs Rivers Philadelphia: The Bigger Casino Is in Bensalem. The Bigger Business Is in Fishtown.

The Gaming Control Board ranks Parx first in Pennsylvania for slot revenue and Rivers Philadelphia eighth. Its own combined chart then puts Rivers third and Parx fourth. Both are correct, and the difference is the whole story of the two casinos.

Published 2026-11-02.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board ranks Parx first among the state's 18 casinos for slot revenue, at $375 million in the fiscal year that ended in June 2026, and Rivers Philadelphia eighth, at $139 million. The same board's September 2026 chart of total revenue puts Rivers third in Pennsylvania and Parx fourth.

Both are right. Rivers runs the BetRivers online casino under its license, and $464 million of iGaming a year makes a 1,500-slot casino in Fishtown a bigger business than a 3,000-slot casino in Bensalem. None of that online money changes what you find when you walk in, which is why this comparison starts on the floor and ends with the cards.

Parx is the state's slot machine. In the 2025–26 fiscal year its slots won $375.2 million, first in Pennsylvania, and its tables $196.4 million, second only to Wind Creek Bethlehem. Its online arm, betPARX, made $72.5 million, sixth among the state's iGaming operators. Owner Greenwood Gaming built Parx as a volume casino for the northeast suburbs and lower Bucks County, and it still runs that way: a lot of machines, a lot of visits, and no hotel until this year.

Rivers Philadelphia, the former SugarHouse, is a mid-sized casino attached to a very large website. Its slots won $138.8 million and its tables $73.6 million, eighth and fourth in the state, while BetRivers' Pennsylvania iGaming took $464.3 million, third among operators and up 12.8 percent on the year. Rush Street Gaming's model runs on that: the casino is the license that makes the app legal. In September 2026 the pattern held, with a $38.5 million online month more than three times what Rivers' slots and tables won together.

For a visitor the lesson is simple. Parx's scale is in the building. Rivers' scale is on your phone, and the building is sized for Fishtown and the river wards, not for the region.

The PGCB's September 2026 counts: Parx 2,975 slots and 180 tables, of which 48 are poker; Rivers 1,521 slots and 130 tables, of which 28 are poker; Live! Philadelphia, for reference, 1,857 slots and 155 tables with 34 poker. Rivers was at 140 tables through December 2025, so it has trimmed ten this year.

Poker is the clearest split. Parx's room runs 24 hours, lists cash games from $1/$3 no-limit with a $100 to $500 buy-in up to $10/$25, spreads limit hold'em, Omaha and mixed games, and runs the Big Stax tournament series; the regulator has counted the same 48 tables every month for the past year. Rivers' room closed in March 2020, came back that October at 14 tables and is now at 28, with daily tournaments in the $80 to $160 range and $200 to $1,000 high-hand promotions. A serious player drives to Bensalem. A player who wants a $130 tournament after work in the city is fine in Fishtown, and Live!'s 34-table room is the quieter third option.

On table minimums Rivers publishes and Parx does not. Rivers advertises $10 blackjack 24 hours a day, $5 minimums on a rotating pick of Ultimate Texas Hold'em, Three Card Poker, Mississippi Stud and High Card Flush, and $20 baccarat; its high-limit room starts at $50 to $200. Live! advertises $10 blackjack all day as well. Parx's site lists its poker buy-ins and nothing for the pit, and we are not going to quote a minimum we did not see.

Sportsbooks: betPARX at Parx with kiosks across the floor and live tellers, BetRivers at Rivers with 33 kiosks open around the clock, and a FanDuel book at Live! that is retail only, because Live! has no online skin in Pennsylvania. Parx's sports handle in September was $12.2 million to Rivers' $9.7 million, each split roughly 40/60 between the counter and the app.

Then the air.

Pennsylvania's Clean Indoor Air Act lets a casino designate up to half its floor for smoking, and a bill to remove that exemption, House Bill 880, was laid on the table in the House on September 30, 2025 and has not moved since. Parx went smoke-free during the pandemic and stayed that way: the whole building, with a covered, heated patio off the floor for smokers. Rivers keeps designated smoking areas on its floor. If smoke decides your casino, this is the comparison, and our smoke-free casino list has the rest of the country.

Until this spring neither casino had a hotel, which is a strange thing for the region's two biggest to have in common. Both fixed it in 2026, modestly.

Parxview Hotel opened on March 26, 2026 at 3327 Street Road: 160 rooms including 16 suites in a gutted and rebuilt former Holiday Inn, with a bistro, a seasonal pool deck, free parking, a shuttle and a smoke-free policy that matches the casino. What it is not is the 13-story, roughly 300-room tower Greenwood announced in 2023 and had approved by Bensalem Township; Casino.org reported that the $100 million ground-up plan was called off amid the spread of unregulated skill games across Pennsylvania. The hotel you can book is a renovated highway inn next door, and it is priced and presented as one.

Rivers' answer is Riversuites at The Battery, 62 apartment-style suites with kitchens in the converted power station on Beach Street a short walk from the casino, with a free shuttle and free parking. It was announced in July 2023 as a boutique hotel and Rivers' 2026 press releases call it exactly that. Sixty-two suites is a hotel for comped players and a few weekenders, not a resort.

Live! Philadelphia's 208-room tower, open since February 2021, remains the only real casino hotel in the city, and hotel guests park free in a garage where event-day rates for everyone else run $40 to $60 on Phillies and Eagles days. Live! has also been the one investing in restaurants this year, with a Library Bar off the lobby in June and a new Jet Tila menu at Luk Fu.

Parx's card is Xclub. Four tiers: Players, Premium at 1,000 points, Elite at 7,500 and the invitation-only Elite Royal at 40,000, with status reviewed every six months rather than annually. A point takes $20 through a slot or $60 through video poker. Premium adds free valet, a priority cashier line and 20 percent off at a rotating restaurant; comp dollars last 180 days. The card is a Parx card. It does not travel.

Rush Rewards is the Rivers card: Gold to 4,999 tier points, Platinum from 5,000, Black from 25,000, also on six-month cycles. A point takes $5 through a slot, half that rate on video poker, and poker play earns nothing. The trade-off for the smaller casino is reach. Rivers' own pages say the account is recognized at Rivers Pittsburgh and online through BetRivers, with tier matching offered from the other Rivers casinos, and the partner list includes MSC Cruises, Atlantis and Rio Las Vegas. Points expire after 180 days of inactivity.

For a Philadelphia player who never leaves the area, Xclub's 2.5 percent comp-back on the entry tier and Parx's volume of promotions make it the richer card. For anyone who splits time between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, or who already plays on BetRivers, Rush Rewards is the one card that sees all of it. Our rewards guide keeps the current earn rates.

Parx is at 2999 Street Road in Bensalem, 15 miles from Center City by its own count, off I-95, the Turnpike and US 1, with free self-parking and $5 valet for non-members and the entry tier. SEPTA bus routes 50 and 130 serve it daily; Cornwells Heights regional rail station is nearby but Parx's own directions page lists only the buses, so do not count on a shuttle. The racetrack, Parx East, is across the way, with 149 live dates in 2026 and the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on September 19.

Rivers is at 1001 North Delaware Avenue on the Fishtown waterfront, with a free parking garage and the Route 15 trolley and buses 25 and 43 at Frankford and Delaware. Live! is at 900 Packer Avenue in the Stadium District, walkable from NRG station at the south end of the Broad Street Line, which also makes it the easy choice before or after a game.

That last point is where the standard Philadelphia advice, Parx for the suburbs and Rivers for the city, needs a third line. On a game day the Stadium District is a parking trap; Rivers is a ten-minute ride up Delaware Avenue with a free garage. On any other day Live! has the better hotel and the high-limit room that Casino Player readers voted the state's best four years running. And on no day is Rivers the casino for a poker player or for anyone who wants a long session away from smoke. Parx wins on floor, poker and air. Rivers wins on the river, the published $10 games and the card. Pick by what you play, and check the Philadelphia casino list for whatever has changed since.

Topics

• pennsylvania
• philadelphia
• parx
• rivers-casino
• comparison

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