Twin River Group Plans to Move Newport Grand to Tiverton

Fresh off their entering into a contract to buy Newport Grand, The owners of Twin River Casino announced Tuesday that they plan to move Newport Grand to Tiverton.

The plan entails constructing a casino on a 45-acre site in Tiverton off Route 81 next to the Massachusetts border, which will help Twin River Management Group better compete against new casinos opening in that state.

Newport Grand would remain in operation during the construction phase but close once work was finished.

John Taylor, chairman, told Providence Business News that Tiverton residents will be invited to have a “comprehensive dialog” to see if they’re open to the development.

The new casino would have more than 1,000 slot machines as well as table games.

The company was set to release more details about the plan at an April 21 press conference.

The proposal would need voter approval, much like Newporters and state voters weighed in on the expansion of table games at Newport Grand in the November election last year. Though a majority of state voters supported it, Newporters rejected it and for casino referendums in Rhode Island, the local voters have the final say.

Taylor told the Providence Journal that the casino would not be an all-encompassing destination casino. Instead, it would be geared towards “convenience gamblers” and have a better shot at attracting a regional customer base than Newport Grand.

At the time of their purchase of Newport Grand, Taylor said the merger of the state’s two gambling facilities presents “significant synergies that exist” between both operations, Taylor said, and there will be major cost savings through shared marketing, technical integration and “cooperative dollars that would allow for maximization of future revenues.”