Sugar House Casino

One of a number of gambling sites that extends out from a physical building, SugarHouse Casino seems to have had a sort of identity crisis since 2019. The brick-and-mortar casino, located in Philadelphia, rece\ntly changed its name to Rivers Casino, a brand that’s also creeping its way through parent company Rush Street Gaming’s online properties. Perhaps unintentionally, this has left the SugarHouse Casino websites in an odd limbo

Rush Street Gaming accepts customers from 14 states, by far one of the largest reaches of any online casino in the country. However, only three of them still carry the SugarHouse name, with players in states like AZ, CO, and WV welcomed under the BetRivers brand. This suggests that SugarHouse may well be on its way out as far as branding is concerned – especially given that Rush Street’s upcoming NY site uses BetRivers, too. 

As far as casino gamers are concerned, that doesn’t really change anything at all. The SugarHouse Casino is still active for players in New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Connecticut. It’s also one of the highest-rated casino websites on the internet.

Among fans, SugarHouse is notable for its catalog of games that includes efforts from developers like Konami, the company that previously created the video games Silent Hill, Frogger, and Metal Gear Solid. Of course, there’s plenty more to an online casino than games, so we’ll be focusing on areas like customer service, payment methods, and promotions to determine whether SugarHouse Casino’s reputation is well deserved or just a load of marketing jargon.

First, though, let’s begin how all SugarHouse players do – with the casino’s welcome bonus. 

SugarHouse Casino has a heap of unique bonuses. However, as far as casino games are concerned, the breadth of the company’s generosity is a little misleading. Sports, bingo, and even social media-based promotions are all mixed in with bonuses for blackjack and slots. This actually reduces the number of relevant bonuses down from twenty to around five. But for people who like to indulge in gambling of all kinds, there’s a lot to play with. 

SugarHouse Casino’s wagering requirements are what set this bonus apart from any that its competitors offer. Typically, casinos have a 20x or 30x wagering requirement attached to bonuses. This can sometimes make welcome treats undesirable, as the amount of money that needs to be spent can be in the tens of thousands. SugarHouse Casino has wagering requirements of 1x, which is practically unheard of. 

Apart from the welcome bonus, SugarHouse tends to favor competition-style promotions, such as a $10,000 Live Blackjack drawing. Entries for this event are granted every time the player gets blackjack in the game.

As mentioned, claiming SugarHouse Casino’s welcome bonus does require action on the part of the player. 

Note that baccarat and roulette are not subject to wagering requirements. SugarHouse Casino does not elaborate any further on that point, however.

The SugarHouse Casino has an extensive reward program based around three elements, namely, iRush Rewards, a Bonus Store, and a Bonus Bank.

The iRush Rewards scheme is based on collecting points from real-money wagers and exchanging them for a variety of gifts. Like many casinos, this loyalty program is tiered, with ten levels prior to the invite-only Elite status. Rewards include bingo prize multipliers, dedicated managers, thank-you dinners, free tablets, and birthday gifts.

iRush Rewards also opens the Bonus Store at the first tier. Here, players can purchase discounts and other perks. Real-money gambling also opens the bonus bank, which adds a separate pile of free playing funds.

It’s worth mentioning here that depositing and withdrawing at a casino cage is only possible at the Golden Nugget Casino in Atlantic City. In most cases, withdrawals take a minimum of 72 hours but this does vary by bank and/or the payment method used.

One of the most useful aspects of online casinos is that they all tend to have similar sign-up processes, right down to the location of the Sign-up button.

There are three pages of required fields so be prepared to hand over information including your address, state, phone number, and SSN, among other things.

At first glance, the SugarHouse Casino homepage is a little overwhelming. It’s extremely text-heavy and designed in such a way that players have to scroll downwards to reveal the bulk of the website. This is likely when most visitors will discover that this isn’t the casino site at all. It’s a landing page. The actual casino site is accessible from a link in the top left.

Having said all that, the wealth of information on the SugarHouse Casino site is still helpful, as is the bar at the top of the page that lets players customize their experience by game type and developer. Based on HTML5, games run smoothly with no slow-down or other negative effects. SugarHouse also has titles from lots of different developers. 

SugarHouse Casino allows play on Android and iOS devices, as well as in a web browser on mobile. Unusually for a casino app, the iOS version rates lower than the Android one. However, it does have significantly more reviews. All apps are only for players based in New Jersey, which is a disappointing situation. 

As far as usability is concerned, SugarHouse’s mobile offering is fully featured and includes support for demanding services like live-streaming. The casino has won four awards related to its mobile platform, including the eGaming Review Mobile Operator of the Year.

Under the SugarHouse Casino brand, this operator is legally allowed to operate in NJ, CT, and PA according to regulation from the following bodies: New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, Connecticut State Department of Consumer Protection, and the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. It’s a fully legal online casino. 

Customer service can seem like a difficult thing to measure online, as people only tend to interact with businesses when they’re either happy or angry – and, in many cases, it’s the latter. In keeping with the trend of a rather unique casino, SugarHouse places access to support at the top of the page.

The website offers phone, email, and live chat support. Unfortunately, customer service is not available 24hr but it does run from 9:30 am to 2:00 am EST. 

SugarHouse Casino gets its games from Konami, Shuffle, AGS, Lightning, Everi, IGT, NetEnt, High 5, DGC, and Next Gen. Major slot titles include Finn and the Swirly Spin, Jumanji, Starburst, Kitty Glitter, and Hell’s Kitchen. 

SugarHouse Casino has an average Return To Player or RTP of 97.87%. This figure is the percentage of a wager that players can expect to have returned over time. Like many operators based in the US, SugarHouse Casino is not eCOGRA-approved. However, fairness is enforced by the relevant state regulator.

The United States is one of the most fertile territories for online gaming and the expansion of SugarHouse Casino into New York is a testament to this great potential. Of course, as with any industry, the offering is mixed, with some local casinos doing little more than paying lip service to casino entertainment while pushing their sportsbooks on players.

Fortunately, these half-hearted efforts are in the minority and once-rare elements like live dealers are becoming commonplace on these shores. 

It’s hard to fault SugarHouse Casino. Given the support behind it, though, in the form of experienced casino operators Rush Street Gaming, expectations for the online arm of the business have always been high.

It’s therefore a bit of a relief that SugarHouse Casino has ended up becoming one of the most popular casinos in the country. 

Overall, SugarHouse Casino ticks every box. Only the cluttered website lets the brand down. While this can be a critical problem for less-internet-savvy gamers, it’s unlikely to cause problems for most website visitors. Also, with wagering requirements in the low single digits, there are incentives to overlook SugarHouse’s minor flaws.

Despite providing all the legally required information, SugarHouse’s responsible gambling page comes up a little short. It is a difficult read as the information is presented in a format that reads like a legal document and not a resource meant to help the general public. 

That being said, SugarHouse provides links and contact information for Pennsylvania’s council on problem gambling, the national council on problem gambling, gambler’s anonymous, and the national suicide prevention hotline. Additionally, they also provide “brochures” (because who doesn’t love reading a good brochure, right?) on the self-exclusion features they offer, myths regarding problem gambling, and more.