Recent purchase rolls two Keene casinos into one
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The co-owners of the former Keene Casino are hedging their bets on another gambling venture in the Elm City, by buying their previous competitor.
Dick Anagnost, president of Anagnost Investments Inc. in Manchester, said he and son Stavros have purchased Wonder Casino from Emerald Gaming LLC and have merged the two businesses into a single casino.
Anagnost declined to share how much his company paid for Wonder but said the sale closed June 6 after negotiations started in April. He said they pitched the sale proposalafter the property owner of the Keene Casino site decided to pursue converting it into residential units.
Keene Casino relocated to a standalone building at what was then the Colony Mill Marketplace on West Street in 2016, in space previously occupied by La Carreta Mexican restaurant. The casino had previously been known as the Keene Poker Room and moved from a space in the Keene Best Western hotel.
Most of the rest of the Colony Mill Marketplace property, owned by Manchester-based developer Brady Sullivan Properties LLC, has since been converted to apartments.
Wonder Casino opened at 172 Emerald St. in January 2021.
Jared Goodell, who is listed as a manager of Emerald Gaming LLC in an annual report filed with the N.H. Secretary of State's Office in April, declined to comment when asked if Wonder Casino had been sold.
“We just approached Jared’s group and said that we’d need to move anyway and were going to have a bigger space, so we asked if they’d consider selling because they were already in place,” Anagnost said. “We were able to reach a mutual agreement, and everybody came away happy.”
Wonder Casino will retain its existing name and operating hours, from noon to 1 a.m. seven days a week, Anagnost said, and some machines and equipment from the former Keene Casino have been moved into Wonder.
“... we’re using … about 90 percent of Wonder’s and 10 percent of Keene’s [equipment],” he said. “The rest of it has been put in a storage trailer and brought back here in Manchester to our warehouse lot.”
Anagnost said the two businesses had similar operating procedures, making it an “easy transition for both parties.” He added that all staff at both casinos have remained on board and are now working at Wonder Casino.
