That sigh of relief you hear in Chester is not blue-faced Sons of Ben soccer zealots relieved at the sight of a real stadium rising in the shadow of the Commodore Barry Bridge.

No, it is coming from down the street, at Harrah’s Chester Casino & Racetrack.

It’s not coming from patrons who continue to pump money into all those slots machines.

It’s coming from the suits in the executive suites.

They just won big.

Of course, they win big just about every day. According to the latest figures from the state Gaming Control Board, Harrah’s took in more than
$69 million dollars in wagers during the week of Aug. 17-23. Sounds good, right. Of course you have to realize that they also paid out more than $63 million.

For the month they have now raked in almost $250 million, and for the fiscal year to date that number skyrockets to more than $594 million.

But the truth is that business has been down at Harrah’s. In fact, it’s one of the few of the glitzy new slots parlors introduced a few years back in the state where the numbers are off.

Add to that the fact that Harrah’s Chester was about to face a major challenge just down I-95, and you could understand the furrows in the brows of some of those Chester execs.

As the huge billboard near the Commodore Barry Bridge proclaimed, a whole new ballgame – so to speak – when it comes to legalized gambling was about to come on board. And it was just 20 minutes away. You could literally drive right past Harrah’s and continue down I-95 to Delaware Park, where legalized sports betting was due to debut next week.

Not anymore.

The four major pro sports franchises took a decidedly dim view of the notion of people being able to bet on their games. In particular they didn’t like what Delaware was proposing, the ability for gamblers to plunk down their money on individual games.

The courts backed the leagues. In a stunning loss for Delaware and the casinos, which had already invested untold millions in getting their operations ready to roll, the court said that sports betting would be restricted to parlay bets – involving multiple teams – on pro football games.

You can see the execs at Harrah’s Chester smiling all the way from the Delaware line.

And they are about to get more good news. State Sen. Dominic Pileggi, R-9, of Chester, in a recent meeting with this newspapers’ editorial board, all but conceded that table games are coming to Pennsylvania, and to Harrah’s.

“It’s a matter of when, not if,” Pileggi said.

As they say down at Harrah’s, let the good times roll.