Sugar House Casino Rebranded to Betrivers

New Jersey bettors may have seen a big difference this month but fear not! Those who make their wagers online at PlaySugarHouse will now see that they are actually logged in and playing at BetRivers Online Casino and Sportsbook instead of SugarHouse.

The change, while sudden, is purely a change of name only, so current users have nothing to worry about. In fact, both SugarHouse and BetRivers are owned by the same company, Rush Street Interactive.

This means that the product will not change with the name update. From the featured games that include the shared progressive slot jackpots to the promotions, everything will stay the same.

What Will Players Notice?

The original PlaySugarHouse branding will be available on the new site as BetRivers Online Casino and Sportsbook will contain both of the brands’ logos next to each other.

This isn’t too uncommon, especially if you know about the RSI operations in Pennsylvania. RSI operates both the PlaySugarHouse and BetRivers online casino and sportsbook sites in Pennsylvania, one for each brand. 

To get players more familiar with the new company, BetRivers will run a promotion named the BetRivers bonus Bash. The goal of this is to let players know of the new name and to get them familiar with the new name. Current players who log in daily will get a random prize which can be things like wheel spins, free sports bets, and cash bonuses.

Why The Name Change?

Originally, RSI was under Rush Street Gaming until it separated to create an online product. This ultimately became the product known as SugarHouse Casino, located in Pennsylvania. The home state of RSG is Illinois; however, sports betting and online casinos were not legal at the time of creation.

However, as there were two brick-and-mortar casinos in the state of Pennsylvania and with the launch of an online casino and sportsbook around the corner, RSG decided to focus on Pennsylvania and launch SugarHouse as the flagship name. 

In 2018, PlaySugarHouse had their launch in New Jersey, which has had legal online gambling since 2013. While they were a late entrant in New Jersey, they were one of the first operators to launch in Pennsylvania when they allowed legal online casinos and sportsbooks the very next year. The next change came in October of 2019 when they changed the SugarHouse name to Rivers Philadelphia. 

When RSI launched BetRivers, players believed that PlaySugarHouse in Pennsylvania would become the new BetRivers site, as well as the renaming of the New Jersey website. However, the parent company kept both brands running side by side in Pennsylvania and had the New Jersey site continuing with the PlaySugarHouse name until now, that is. 

What Next?

However, just because PlaySugarHouse is ending in the Garden State doesn’t mean that it is going away entirely. According to RSI, there has been value found in the PlaySugarHouse name when it comes to the smaller online gaming market of Connecticut. It may come as a surprise, but the fact that there is no brick-and-mortar casino product in Connecticut for the company seems to be a plus in their favor.

In 2021, two tribes were able to make an online casino and sportsbook deal with the Connecticut government: the Mohegans and the Mashantucket Pequots. The tribes received rights for online casinos if the state lottery was able to compete with online sports wagering. The side note was that the lottery could not use brands with a physical casino. As such, when RSI got the contract, they couldn’t use BetRivers as the brand but could use PlaySugarHouse as there is no longer a physical casino.