Harrah's Chester (aka Philadelphia) used to be a somewhat decent place to gamble, but not of late. The clientele is super sketchy...crowded with locals that look like they could use a good bath, are rude and ignorant (tying up several machines and not really playing), and lack civilization skills that would make for a more pleasant experience. Now, you could overlook that, if the slots weren't so tight, but that's not the case. We have been going every Sat. night for over a year now and very RARELY win. You could overlook that as well, if you could get a decent meal or a free drink, but one of the main restaurants is being redone so you're relegated to the awful buffet or the super crowded pizza shop! I'm done!!!!!

Harrahs Chester Diamond Club charges money for drinks. Run out of shrimp cocktail 20 minutes after opening. It is really bad! I ordered two drinks and was handed a receipt to pay $12. They open at 3:00 PM and I got in line for the food at 3:20 PM. The guy in front of me asked for more shrimp and the server removed the bowl for the shrimps and told him that there was no more. We spent a lot money at Harrah’s casinos all around U.S. and just last year they made it so you will need to have a 1,000 tier more at 11,000 points to get the Diamond card. We played all year and our Win / Loss Statement shows a loss of over $11,000 in 2011. My point is that after we lost so much money at Harrah’s casinos and we give them our business and then they treated us badly. My advice is if you are going to a casino stay away from Harrah’s brand casinos that includes Caesars, Bally’s, Flamingo, Imperial Palace, Paris, Rio, Horseshoe, and Showboat.

Harrah's Chester Diamond Club charges money for drinks. The drinks are too expensive especially after you lost all your money to the tight slot machines. All the other Diamond Clubs offer free drinks for its members. At Harrah’s Chester the drinks on the casino floor are free. The Diamond Club is in the casino but they are being cheap. The Temptation Buffet used to be great but now the food is bad and the workers there don’t care! The cooks told me that Harrah’s won’t allow them to get the food they used to get because of cut back on the budget. They got the nerves to charge a lot more for the buffet but spend a lot less on what you paid for. It makes no sense!

never go here. I had a horrible experience here. Bad food, dirty, area is bad, service is horrible. I am a diamond player and ran into the Main manager of the casino and he was rude to me. I went to Harrah's for 12 years and I just called my family that are card members to never go to any Harrah's properties again.

Flew into Philly for the weekend to check out their casinos. Of the three in the area (Parx, Sugar House, Harrah's), I liked this one the best. It has a decent sized poker room on the 2nd level, which was enjoyable to play in. On the upper level, there are tons of slot machines (which I rarely play), table games, restaurants, and the buffet. One nice comp they had was if you played anything (except poker) for 30 minutes, you got a free buffet once per day. I am generally not a fan of buffets, but this one wasn't bad -- especially considering it was "free". I found a nickel "Jacks or Better" video poker machine (which had a horrible pay table of 6/5), but I played a nickel at a time for 30 minutes. At the end of the session, I was down 50 cents. So, that is what the buffet cost me. As for beverage service, you could order beverages right there on the slot machine electronically. If all you wanted was a soda, there were a few soda machines placed along the walls, which you could access for free. I had a great time here, and will gladly return. It was certainly better than driving all the way out to Atlantic City and back when you're only in town for an overnight trip.

If you're not a diamond card member or 7 stars member, don't even bother going to the Total Rewards Center. There are usually 4-5 lines for Total Rewards customer service. I am a platinum card member and on my 3 most recent visits I waited in line at the Total Rewards section for over a half hour to speak to a customer service agent. It wasn't because it was overly crowded, it was because all of the agents take care of diamond club and 7 star members before platinum or gold card members.

Yesterday I stood in line because there was NOBODY in customer service to take care of anyone that didn't hold diamond or 7 stars! The 7 stars and diamond club members trickled in...just enough to keep all of the agents busy...no line and our line got longer and longer. Finally a manager sauntered out from a back room to "help out". I was 2nd in line and still had to wait for her to tell the woman in front of me that she was unable to help her. I informed the "manager" that what they were doing was extremely discriminatory I can see them giving the higher card levels preference, but to have NO ONE to help the other people was just wrong!

I attempted to reach a supervisor and got a voice mail. I called today and sat on hold for over 45 minutes to speak with customer service. Someone finally picked up the phone and immediately hung up. It's a joke. They don't want to hear our feedback and if you haven't gambled enough to be a diamond member or 7 stars member, it's obvious that you don't matter to them.

Harrah's Chester has improved in recent years. Their customer service is exceptional and their slots have become less tight. The diamond lounge has also improved, with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and other dishes now served. They started giving vouchers to everyone once again and the casino is packed again.

It's currently July 2011 and that's the month they brought back the vouchers to everyone , including gold members. Not sure how long it will last

If you see Dan-O or Big John at the entrance, they will greet you with a smile or a big hug. Probably the 2 best security guards this establishment has and they do recognize all the repeat guests! They deserve a pay raise.

They also have all the newest slots like the Hangover, Sex& the city and tons more new slots. Probably the best casino for new slots action. They also have the traditional old 9 pay line nickle slots for tiki torch, etc. They hide them in the very very back.
They've recently added 5 new grizzly bear machines located in the middle left by the poker machines and also they've added 6 new Tiki torch machines and 6 new Sun & moon machines located in the very back right near Cashman. So they do listen to people's requests.

They do have tight slots, but I've also seen my fair share of players hit jackpots and win a lot.

If you love variety of slot machines, this is the best casino to go to. It's 3x larger than Sugarhouse that just opened up and it has great table actions for high rollers and an asian restaurant open until 2 am every night (4 am on weekends) located near the high roller table games in the back right by the wall opening.

They offer a diamond parking pass on the 3rd floor, but people who aren't even diamond always park there and clog it up. They need a gate to swipe your card to enter the 3rd level because it's not moderated at all.

They have an average buffet located in the very very back. And they have a good sports bar with the biggest television you'll ever see called the endzone (located in the front right). They have 2 gift shops, one when you first enter the casino on the left side. Another down the escalator. They have a 24 hour take-out restaurant where they serve cheesesteaks, wings, pretzels, and $5.50 breakfast sandwiches, cakes, etc. The menu is small and select, but it's open 24 hours. That's on the right hand side, a little past the endzone.

The poker table section is on the 2nd floor and the dealers are pretty decent. Some of the dealers have dealt at the taj mahal before. Action is pretty good. Busy on the weekends so call ahead to reserve a table.

The casino is really a gem. It's in a bad location, but so is Atlantic City.

One negative that I have with this casino is the jackpots aren't really that great. The most I've seen was $200,000. No million dollar jackpots and wheel of fortune is capped to like $15,000. ??? But all in all, the variety is there, and that will keep people coming back for a long time.

PS. Check out the new Airplane machine in the middle left section past the nickels.

I've been playing since 2007 and I have to say the slots are the worst in any casino ever. Right now, I'm sitting at 6500 tier score on April 30th, 2011 and it feels like I should be 50,000 tier score at any other place. I've never ever won since going there. All the machines suck my money back. I bet max on pennies and nickles and I get the bonus's a lot. Max bet on a $5 bet, I usually get only about $100 or $150 if I'm LUCKY! That's a disgrace. Most other people are the same. I got 50 free spins at max bet on sun & moon and only was paid $300?? So sad and ridiculous. Lets put it this way, an average casino session of $1000 at sugarhouse lasts me the whole night or about 15 hours. An average $1000 session at Harrah's chester lasts around 3 hours. That's so sad and pathetic.

When I questioned why are the slots so tight to one of the staff, they said "We give away cars and a lot of cash and vouchers, and I'm sorry to hear." That's so bogus. This is one of the reasons Borgata rules over Harrah's in A.C. because they don't lower their slot machines payout table to under 90%. "Business is bad." Business is not bad. You guys are booming and sucking away money so fast. I've talked to people in the high limits room betting $5-$20 a play and they said that this casino is the tightest casino they've ever experienced. And they don't get vouchers or a host. Such a poorly run casino!. Whoever the manager there is does not treat their high rollers with the respect they deserve.

Oh, you know what's always funny. With 6500 tier score, I get $5 vouchers in the mail. What a joke!! When I emailed their support, they said "We base your vouchers on the average time you play each visit." That's a load of garbage! So if I lose $1000 in 1 hour, they actually lower my vouchers!! Even though I have 6500 tier score in April. Which sounds like nothing, but for this casino 6500 tier score is decent. I should be at least 20,000 tier score with all the money I've lost.

I went with a group of diamond players over the holiday. My mom, sister, uncle, and a friend of mine and we all took $1000. We played monoploy, sex& the city, quarters, dollars. We stayed for 6 hours. ALL OF US LOST!! I lost all $1000 and was actually spectating for a bit as I set my limit to $1000 and the other 5. Only one person had a good amount left. And that was my sister. She had 900 of the 1,000 she came with. The rest of us got hit hard. And it seems that is the case with mainly everyone that enters their casino.

I would avoid this casino if you like slots. Their management staff is horrendous. They will keep the payout tables the lowest in any casino in the whole world. They won't change them either. They blame it on the economy and want to suck you dry.

Here's a clue, Harrah's! If you want repeat business and future longetivity, HIGHER YOUR PAYOUT %. WHAT A JOKE OF A CASINO!

Well, I have seen it all. However when I visited this casino, I was utterly disgusted. They now have Hooters-like entertainment during the day/night for all patrons to see by the table games bar. Incredibly tasteless, in my opinion. In addition, the slot machines are the tightest I've ever seen anywhere. They also took away my all time favorite machines. Silverback & Jackpot Canyon. The machines they have now never ever pay anything out. One huge problem in this casino is that it is way too smoky from cigarettes. Even in non smoking areas, people smoke and dump their ashes and cigarette butts on the floor. The only consolation is the buffet, which is decent.

I thought Indian casinos had bad paybacks. I dont think ive seen a worst in the nation. I travel all over and the problem with this operation is that if you are betting more than minimum it just takes your money. I put several hundred in different maschines only to see the player get on the same machine betting minimum and hit for a little bit. Bonuses are non existent. Also could not get a drink delivered. They would come by and take your order only to never deliver.

Slots are incredibly tight. They charge for drinks while you play. The buffet is horrible. You'll be incredibly lucky to find a blackjack or craps table with less than a $25 minimum. There is no hotel. The poker room comps you 70 cents per hour played. Most AC casinos comp you between $2 and $3. That is in spite of the fact that they rake $5 per hand compared to the $4 a hand in AC. There is one interesting aspect of the place though. If you park in one of the upper levels of the garage and get there at the right time, you can look over the wall and see the convicts out in the yard of the prison next door.

The ONLY good thing about this dump is the fact that there are a lot of bad poker players there. To give you an idea of how bad this place is, I've gone there to play poker 18 times. I've had 14 winning sessions, 3 losing sessions and 1 even session. In spite of that financial success I will never go back there again.

Do not waste your money here. When they first opened I won a couple of jackpots. All they do is take your money on the slots. They are very pathetic. 2.00 bonuses after playing hundreds of dollars. The service is awful. You never see a waitress. They don't keep the food places open and you have to stand in a horrendous line at the cafe and none of the staff acts friendly. I am a diamond member and nobody cares. There are no giveaways. The location is horrible and I have stopped gambling there all together. It's bad.

Where do I begin? the food! Lousy - the best things are the wings and ice cream! I went to the buffet and got sick, went to the Diamond lounge and got really sick...so now I just eat at Mickey D's down the road before I gamble.

If you go before 2pm be ready to swerve to avoid the canes and wheelchairs...senior citizen city! And they feel as if you the player owe them something. An older lady argued with me over a cashman machine. She claimed she put her check in it and i owed her at least 100 bucks. I hated to call security on her.. In the evening I see a good deal of young gamblers so it's good.

Customer service isn't that great the ladies at the Rewards Center always like to talk and make the customers wait until they're done. The only positives are the cocktail waitresses, nice eye candy and always ask if you need anything.

Diamond club needs much improvement with food and environment. They act as if it's special and exciting>>>>>NOT

I'll just drive to AC from now on... because these slots are just as tight as it can get. I put $300 in a machine and got 40 bucks on the bonus.

If it weren't for the cove restaurant and the nice attendants at valet parking this place would be a total loss.
The diamond club is the worst. food is horrible. The waitresses are very attentive and sociable. I am a Player, I averaged 90,000
point total last year, and after calling for a host or hostess, I was told I "didn't have one", what a disgrace. I live about 15 minutes away and still think twice about going, but still go. Hopefully, they will rectify these problems. The payout figures are reasonable, but I cant see any good results from my play.

This place is bad lately. The slots are so tight...always feel I will lose there. The dining establishments are pretty bad, except for the Cove restaurant. Totally different than parx casino up in the northeast. I only go any more because they send me coupons and i'm a seven stars player. Can't wait until the casino in valley forge opens as i'll never go back to Harrah's Chester.

I WAS a Seven Stars player but am no longer thanks to casinos like this one that took so much of my money that after a year or so, I couldn't afford to play and spend what it took to stay in the Seven Stars category.

Everything about this casino is unlike any other Harrah's that I've been to and I've been to almost all of them. First of all, trying to get there is somewhat of a scary experience. The roads are pretty rough as well as the neighborhoods that you travel through to get to the prison which is behind the casino (I've actually watched the inmates in the excercise yard from one of the windows in the casino).

The machines in the High Limit room are the tightest machines I've ever experienced anywhere (I put $1000 in a $5 Double Gold machine and got NOTHING back) and the other machines I played were just as tight. When my funds were down, I played everything else out there from the $2 reels to the penny slots and found them to be as tight as the machines at McCarren airport in Las Vegas (and that's about as tight as a slot machine can be).

When I went upstairs to the buffet for Diamond members, a host or manager or whatever he was questioned my player status and when I showed him my Seven Stars card, he asked me for ID (I suppose it was because I had on jeans and a sweatshirt rather than a polyester pant suit). Once I met his approval, I got a plate of lousy food and sat at a table that was tagged as "Seven Stars Only" only to have the servers avoid my table (I must've looked like a non-tipper who mistakenly sat at that table).

I ate what I could, left a $20 bill on the table and went downstairs and bought a hot dog and soda. I probably made about five or so more visits to the casino but after losing consistently and in what seemed to be an increasingly shorter time, I simply stopped going.

Good new casino. Slots are very tight. Just go to have fun and lose all your money. I have never received any promotion from them which I see others using like free slot dollars.

I spend hundreds of dollars here, but I have a feeling that the card reader makes me lose more money so I remove it and play.

Harrah's Chester has turned into one of the worst casinos I know. I'm a seven stars player and this casino simply doesn't care about their customers. It used to be a great place and excellent payouts when they first opened in 2007. Since that time they have declined dramatically to a point where it's a huge shock to win anything.

Another poster said they used to honor the coupons all during the month instead of certain dates. This was a huge change and they said it was because they were trying to be "more like Atlantic City". Well, they are the furthest thing from that. The atmosphere and crowd is really low-level and the game play has become horrendous. I used to play in the high-limit room and now won't even go near there. They have lowered the payouts so much I truly believe their machines cheat.

I only go to use coupons (which they keep lowering every month) and occasionally to the sports bar. They never have gifts for their premium players and only expect these people to keep coming back and losing. Also, no cashback like AC has.

They should be voted as one of the Worst Casinos in Players magazine.. cheap, cheap, cheap.

My boyfriend and I have been going to this casino 2-3 times a week for almost a year now. In 5 months we turned a Gold reward card into a Dimond reward card. We thought we would be getting larger slot vouchers in the mail once we turned to Diamond and boy were we wrong. Harrahs gives us $5.00 vouchers every few weeks. We used to get $20-$30 vouchers. I decided to start my own card and have lost over $2000 in just 2 months and still have not received one coupon in the mail. When I call to ask someone why I have yet to be rewarded they tell me I do not spend enough. I feel like that's all I do is spend. The payouts are outrageous! This is the only place I know that you can spend $500 in a penny slot machine and not get one bonus game. For two people that go as often as we do you would think we would hit something sooner or later. The machines do not pay! I got $100 slot voucher for Ceasars Casino in AC and I was only there twice. I get Philly Parx Casino slot dollars and I barly go there. Why is it that those casinos can give but Harrahs can't? The payouts in AC are great! The payouts at Parx are fair. We really only go to Harrahs because it is so local. The people there are rude and will plow over you to get onto a machine even though you were waiting to get on. Many people sit on machines and do not play but won't let you sit down to play. The staff there thanks people as they are leaving. They actually thank people for losing their money. The food in the Diamond Lounge is terrible. It's free so I guess you can't really complain. Overall, I have to say that we have not left Harrahs Casino Chester happy since we started gambling there. Don't waste your time and money!

I went to Harrahs Chester, PA last night, Thursday December 31, 2009 around 12:10am. All the slot machines, cannot accepted the promotional coupon that we received in mail. It was so hectic in the casino, the line in the cashier was so long and crazy.

Most of the Harrahs's Chester employees can not handle that situation and really have bad attitudes with customers. I believe this is kind of like a scam, we received the coupon but couldn't used it. Be careful...

Wow -- I've been to Harrah's Chester on many occasions. I frequently talk to people there and have yet to hear anyone say a positive word about payouts. In short, Harrah's is CHEAP. They are part of a consortium and are bringing up the rear alongside the other properties within the consortium. They've consistently downgraded player coupons and during my 7 Stars timeframe, they decided to take away key "formerly promised" priviliges such as redeeming all coupons at the end of the month instead of playing them on the day they were stamped. Terrible! In short, Harrah's should change their tagline to "the casino where no one ever wins." It's true -- play somewhere else where you have a chance!

I live 15 minutes away from here and go here several times a month, so I can give you a pretty accurate picture of the casino. If you enjoy playing slots and are not looking for anything else you will have fun here. This is particularly true if you smoke, since about half the slots here allow smoking. If you don't smoke, there are plenty of slots far from the smoking areas as well. The payouts of the slots are not nearly as good as Atlantic City or Las Vegas. It pays better than Delaware Park though. Figure on about a 90% return, as opposed to the 93% to 95% you get in AC.



If you are looking for more to do than play slots, this is not a good choice. The Diamond lounge was open late when they first launched the casino, but they decided to close it early to try to push their best players out and back onto the slots. It is now basically dead except the hour and a half they serve free food there. Though why anyone would eat that food is beyond me. School cafeterias serve better food than the Diamond lounge does.

They have a typical Harrah's circle bar in the back which is surrounded by smoking machines, but does not allow smoking in the lounge. They will usually have the local Philly sports game on, but you have to usually beg them to put on the sound. The other bar on the Casino floor is called a sports bar, but has no high def televisions and plays loud music instead of the sound of the game. It does seem to get a lively crowd from Chester on Fridays and Saturdays when they have live bands, if that is your scene.



Food at the casino ranges from terrible to mediocre. I wouldn't feed the Diamond lounge food to my dog. Their high end restaurant is not terrible, but would never compete in AC or Vegas. The best food is probably the sports bar, which serves average TGI Friday type of fare. I would suggest eating somewhere else and then coming here to just play the slots. If you really want a meal with your gambling, drive down the road to Delaware Park which actually serves decent food.



In conclusion, if you live nearby or are visiting Philly and want to take a quick trip to a place to play some slots for a few hours, this is a good choice. It is a half hour drive from center city and despite the location, perfectly safe to drive in and out of. If you have a whole day to kill and want to gamble, drive the extra hour it takes to go to Atlantic City and visit any of the casinos there (Caesars is my personal favorite). You will have a much better time in AC than Chester.

Delaware Park used to have good comps and big payouts, but recently their comps are bad and their payouts are lousy. We were told by a security guy that the machines will not pay out well unless you put a lot of money into them.

We used to go there all the time but since they took our bonus slot dollars away we hardly go. We were told that one of their departments did away with rewarding people for coming to their casino unless you play and lose alot of money. We were getting 25 slot dollars which they cut back to 10 slot dollars. Now they even took that away. They weren't losing money by giving people slot dollars if you think about it when you win you end up putting more money into a machine anyway. What were they thinking?

They say you have free play in their slot tournament on Thursday, but they don't let you play if you don't have enough points. Now compared to Harrahs in Chester, Chester is pretty. If you find the right machine the payout is ok.

The best casino though I think is Harrington Casino in Delaware. The payouts were pretty good. The customer service people are alright. At Delaware Park the food is pretty good though depending on what you like. The sodas have too much ice though and sometimes even though the drinks are free some of the ladies who take the drinks around get a little upset if you don't give them any money.

The slots are ok, nothing great nothing bad, There are no table games, but got some sorta blackjack dealer-type thing in a big machine that deals cards to multi players

The diamond club blows. The only one worse i have been to is the one in Windsor, Canada. And dont expect much from the restaurants inside.

Customer service is ok. Some of the security people are very rude and seem to be very bored from the things i see them do. If you're not far from there, it's ok to visit and play once in a while.

This place is great for people who want to take a break for a while and go see some horse races and it's way more convienent than driving to Delaware Park or Philly.

The food isn't all that great and some of the tellers don't really know what they're doing, but other than that it's not that bad.

People hear Chester and think all the wrong things, for heavens sake it's behind a prison what could possibly go wrong? Nothing dangerous is near you, you're completely safe.

But in all honesty I dont think it's fair that because you lose money you give it a bad rating, the place is nice and live racing there is really nice.

?

This place stinks. Location-wise, it's in one of the most unfathomably dangerous and downtrodden east-coast cities - so be careful not to get lost trying to find the freeway! No fast food, no restaurants, very few gas stations (none of which are open after dark).



Slots are horrendous. It's easy to lose several hundred dollars in a nickle or penny machine without a single bonus round. The paybacks on the dollar machines are lousy and in my three visits there, I saw only one person win a $1,600 jackpot.



Unacceptable amenities for cafe and fast food options.



Player rewards accumulate slowly - for me $9 of rewards after playing through $500.



Ignorant and rude staff. Patrons are all chain-smokers wasting their life-savings and disability checks, and thugs from chester.



If you want a classy and relaxing experience, and would at least like to enjoy losing your money slowly over time or have a shot at winning, go somewhere else.

Harrah's Chester is a really fun casino and I do quite well on the slot machines here. The biggest downfall of it is the smoking sections. They are scattered throughout the non-smoking sections and have now opened more of them.

I just got a letter saying they are now 50/50 smoking. It was less than that before and it took your breath away. The one thing they need to do is ban cigar smoking inside the casino - period! It seems more and more cigar smokers are going there and you actually feel as if you are puffing on a cigar at times.

Anybody who has ever gone to Delaware Park can see that the smoking sections right outside the door are a success. They have nice tables set up outside, and it works for everyone. It is not right that those who do not smoke must practically have an asthma attack because they want to go out for a night of fun.

The staff at Harrah's Chester is great! They are helpful and friendly and even though it is across from the prison, you feel safe going in and out of there. Give it a try, you won't be disappointed!

?

I am urging you all to not visit this casino, based on the poor experience I had at my last visit. Without being too longwinded, here is a summary of my experience.



1. The racing betting machines malfunctioned for both myself and another young couple. There are not customer service agents or phones around to help when these mishaps occur, so you must abandon your machine to seek out help.

2. Later in my visit, a machine ate my ticket. When the attendant arrived, he accused me of stealing a ticket, and I was escorted to the side of the floor with a security guard. After 30 minutes, I was finally given a terse apology and a new voucher.

3. After contacting Harrah's through their website, I have yet to receive any direct reply from anyone in the Harrah's organization. I have requested that Harrah's review their procedures and assure me of changes. Unfortunately, Harrah's does not seem committed to providing good service.

Went there Wed 12/10/08, all but the buffet and a hot dog stand was closed. Saw a cook in the gambling area where the hot dog stand was , take a chicken wing off a tray, at the window with his fingers. No manager in site.

Went through our money in a hurry and saw no payoffs. No birthday comps could or would be awarded at the awards desk - said it should have been received in mail.

?

This place is located in an industrial area about 7 miles from the Philadelphia airport. There is also a prison right next to it.



I have been here twice and mostly walked around rather than gamble. I like to play video poker and the paytables were not very good - that's why I preferred not to play.



Most of the casino was non-smoking and this was good, but they also had a designated smoking section. They had a self-serve area for soft drinks which was also good.



They had some electronic video blackjack games where the dealer was displayed on the TV screen. This was fun to watch.



My lasting impression of this place was how big it was. It certainly wasn't fancy; more like a giant casino in a super-sized Home Depot warehouse, but it sure was big.