Some endured the nearly 90-degree heat for several hours so they could be among the first to get in - like Rosalina Martinez, 56, of North Philadelphia, who arrived at 10:30 a.m.
"They want your money as soon as you walk in the door," Martinez joked. Her prediction: "I'm going to hit."
With SugarHouse's opening, Philadelphia becomes the largest U.S. city with a commercial casino. (Detroit has three.)
It also positions Pennsylvania among the largest U.S. gaming markets just six years after slot-machine gambling was legalized. Its nine existing casinos ramped up to table games in July.
SugarHouse is the state's 10th casino, and the third in Southeastern Pennsylvania, joining Parx in Bensalem and Harrah's Chester Casino & Racetrack.
"The great unknown is how much SugarHouse will expand the market versus how much it will cannibalize Parx, Harrah's Chester, and Atlantic City," said industry analyst Joseph Weinert of Spectrum Gaming Group L.L.C., of Linwood, N.J.
Mayor Nutter, in Washington through the weekend for the U.S. Conference of Mayors, did not attend the opening ceremony, sending Deputy Mayor Alan Greenberger in his place. He praised the 900 jobs SugarHouse has brought to the city.
Owner and billionaire developer Neil Bluhm, who flew in from Chicago with his two daughters, looked on proudly and sat next to a fellow investor, lawyer Richard Sprague.
But the four years of delays that preceded the opening - brought on by political wrangling, legal fights, and fierce neighborhood opposition - were not lost on Councilman Frank DiCicco, whose district includes SugarHouse and who once fought vigorously against it.
