Parx, which opens its glass doors at 6 a.m., features 3,300 slot machines - 40 percent more than the old property that it sits next to.
It required an additional 150 employees to staff the three restaurants (Parx Grill, Chickie's and Pete's, and Foodies), a sports bar (Jax) with 20 flat-screen TVs and an entertainment area called 360, with a stage for live bands. The casino's total workforce is now about 800.
"We're widening the scope of what we can do here," said Green, who hails from north London, as he stood among the shiny slot machines yesterday. "The amenities and services we provide will put us in a different league."
The old PhillyPark casino was shut down early last Sunday to move the employees and equipment to the new property. Testing of the slot machines by state gambling regulators was Wednesday.
The three giant LCD screens on the outside entrance that could be seen from miles away, the three $1 million chandeliers in the center of the casino, and the marble floors show how far PhillyPark has come from its humble beginnings.
The sleekly designed casino is also a view of what is to come elsewhere - the next step in the metamorphosis of the state's slots parlors into full-fledged casinos that resemble Atlantic City's gambling palaces.
Next, according to Green, is a hotel, spa, additional restaurants, and showrooms, retail and maybe residential units.
"We have a plan," he said. "Because of the land we own, there is no constraint on what we can do."
Parx, at 260,000 square feet, takes up but a few acres of a 450-acre tract that Green owns.
