By Nick Sortal, Sun Sentinel
February 20, 2014

Dania Casino will open Thursday with 550 slot machines, 12 poker tables and seven years of catching up to do.

It’s the first phase of a massive renovation at the 61-year-old jai-alai fronton, which is the last Broward County pari-mutuel to add slot machines. Three others did so in 2006 and 2007.

Only about a quarter of the Dania Casino property will open Thursday. The jai-alai auditorium will remain blocked off from the public as workers embark on the second phase, which will take at least a year to complete. Three rows of seats remain for people who still want to watch jai-alai.

A VIP party will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, followed by an opening to the public at 9 p.m.

Thursday marks a major milestone in a long journey for what formerly was known as Dania Jai-Alai. Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming bought the fronton for $152 million in 2006, when Broward County voters approved slots. But Boyd officials chose not to renovate, citing a 50 percent tax on slots and nearby competition from the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. (The state lowered that tax to 35 percent in 2010.)

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