Northern Lights Casino moves on to Phase 2 of expansion project

The big change out of Phase 1 is the expansion of the smoking room, which reopened Friday following the gaming floor and main entrance on Thursday. Smith said the old smoking room was demolished from within, and the new one offers more space for patrons as well as more games.

“We had 223 machines and now we’re up to 275 machines in our new smoke room with a lot of extra wiggle room. We have a whole new air handling unit in there as well. It’s a much better ventilation system than the one we had before.”

Now, the project moves into Phase 2, which includes renovating more of the floor and expanding the already roomier new smoking room.

“They’re going to work on the old smoke room and the old area of the casino where live games were,” Smith explained. “We’re going to have another expansion of the current new smoke room to make it even larger, and then on the other part of our gaming floor, we’re going to have a new bar/deli combo that’s going to be going in there as well.”

How the outside of the Northern Lights Casino looked on Aug. 24, 2026. (Image Credit: Logan Lehmann/paNOW)

The project was first announced on Aug. 28, 2024, and workers broke ground nearly two months later on Oct. 15. Throughout the renovation process, none of the employees at the casino were laid off because of the ongoing work and everyday operations haven’t been hindered since the project began, aside from the days when major work was taking place.

No timeline was announced for how long Phase 2 will take to be completed, or when the third and final phase is expected to start.

The Northern Lights Casino first opened in 1996 and prior to the expansion project, the last renovations to happen there were in 2011.

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

by Logan Lehmann

Northern Lights Casino moves on to Phase 2 of expansion project

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