Image courtesy of Montgomery Roth
The owners of Nashua’s Gate City Casino completed a major renovation and expansion less than three years ago. Now, they’re proposing to relocate operations to an even bigger facility they want to develop close to the Massachusetts border.
Concessions giant Delaware North has filed plans with city officials to redevelop the city’s Sheraton hotel, just off Route 3 at its first exit in New Hampshire.
The company wants to add a two-story 92,860-square-foot gaming floor and a 1,700-space garage across two phases, plus a new steakhouse and back-of-house facilities, to the 303-key hotel property.
The existing hotel, which Delaware North already markets as a place for Gate City Casino patrons to stay, would be preserved and incorporated into the final structure along with its nearly 30,000 square feet of meeting rooms, plans show.
That could give the Gateway City Casino an edge over nearby competitors like the brand-new, much larger Nash casino at the Pheasant Lane Mall, which directs guests wishing to stay the night to a Homewood Suites hotel next to the Nashua Sheraton.
That would also make it relatively unique among the charitable gaming casinos in Southeast New Hampshire, which typically have not been redeveloped with a hotel on the premises.
Development representatives told the Nashua Planning Board at an April hearing that the Gate City Casino has generated $20 million since 2023, including $7.1 million last year. The expansion would add 290 jobs.
State law requires 35 percent of gross gaming revenue from each of 18 casinos licenses to be donated to charitable organizations, and 10 percent more directed to the New Hampshire Lottery’s education fund.
Delaware North officials submitted letters of support from Nashua’s two state senators and 11 nonprofits ranging from Special Olympics New Hampshire to a local nonprofit that provides music-based wellness and safety programming at New England schools.
The Nashua Planning Board tabled the application until its May 7 meeting to give more time to address traffic concerns.
If approved, the development would become the latest in a rush by local casinos to expand.
In addition to the 130,000-square-foot Nash which took over a vacant anchor space at the Pheasant Lane Mall, developers recently announced plans to redevelop the 19,000-square-foot casino in the Mall at Rockingham Park into the 160,000-square-foot Rockingham Grand Casino.
Further east, the Lupoli Companies’ Hampton Beach development will include a 52,000-square-foot charitable gaming casino and boutique hotel. In recent years, owners of Seabrook’s The Brook casino has added a 300-seat events venue to the existing 90,000-square-foot charitable casino, while also renovating the gaming floor and are in the process of adding restaurants and new back-of-house spaces.
And to the north, Manchester’s Revo Casino and Social House recently received zoning approval for an expanded 73,000-square-foot charitable gaming facility, including two restaurants and a function room near The Mall of New Hampshire.
