Live Casino Pittsburgh is making its debut in offering to hold proms as Derry Area and Mt. Pleasant Area high schools plan to host their spring dances at the Hempfield venue.
Both proms, scheduled on different dates, will be held in the casino’s Venue Live event space on the second floor. The Sports & Social restaurant and PBR Pittsburgh night club, also on the second floor, will be closed during the dances, according to administrators.
Students from both districts will be taken to and from the casino via bus, said Derry Secondary Head Principal Lisa Dubich and Mt. Pleasant High School Principal Robert Gumbita.
They will enter the event space from the casino’s parking garage — which has direct access to Venue Live — or by walking up the set of stairs located just before the gambling floor at the building’s front entrance, said Sean Sullivan, the casino’s executive vice president and general manager.
The casino has hundreds of security cameras and an in-house security staff, Sullivan said.
“We’re more secure, I guarantee you, than any other place can be,” he said.
Derry students ‘impressed with the facility’
That’s what drew Derry Area’s student council to the venue, Dubich said. In addition to chaperones from the district, the dance will be monitored by current and retired state troopers staffed by the casino, she said.
After dinner in the Venue Live, students will be able to use PBR Pittsburgh’s dance floor and play Sports & Social’s arcade games, Dubich said.
“(Student council) was impressed with the facility,” she said. “I also think that dance floor is a highlight.”
Gumbita said Mt. Pleasant learned about the possibility of hosting prom at the casino through the district’s alumni foundation.
Up until a few years ago, the district hosted its prom at Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Champion. But when the venue became too expensive and, officials say, difficult to book, the district began searching for other options.
“These venues are very expensive in the area over the past several years,” Gumbita said. “It’s almost impossible to raise the funds you need just to secure the venue.”
The casino, Gumbita said, is “on par with what we were doing back when we were going to Seven Springs.”
It also has provided an opportunity for the district to raise money through its regular charitable bingo nights. Various community organizations — including Friends of Hempfield Parks and Educated Athletes First — have benefited from the bingo nights since June 2024.
Mt. Pleasant’s alumni foundation, which finances prom, raised $7,000 through a bingo night held in October, Gumbita said.
Mt. Pleasant predicts reduced costs
The cost for hosting both of the districts’ proms at the casino has yet to be determined. It will depend upon how many students sign up to attend and how many of the casino’s services the districts decide to use, Dubich said — including food options, a DJ and security.
But Gumbita is confident Mt. Pleasant will be able to sell tickets to students at a reduced cost.
Despite this being the first year Live Casino has hosted a high school dance, it is not uncommon in the industry, Sullivan said.
“I’m not sure why this year we have them and haven’t in the past,” he said. “I think it completely fits with our ‘Live in the community’ position. We want to be in the heart of community events.”
