Mr. Cashman has a lot of company these days.

Nearly seven weeks after the Rivers Casino installed its first slot machine, the aforementioned Mr. Cashman, the 120,000-square-foot gambling floor is virtually awash in them.

From one end to the other, machines of every kind, from Wild & Crazy to electronic blackjack with busty virtual dealers, sit in banks or pods, many of them already wired and set to go, with lights flashing but no sound.

"You can play them, virtually, if you were allowed to," Rivers President and Chief Operating Officer Ed Fasulo said during a tour of the casino yesterday. "They're ready to be played."

Even though the Rivers grand opening has been pushed back four days to August 9, the North Shore slots venue is rounding into form on multiple fronts, both inside and out.

Of the 3,000 machines the casino will open with, 2,705 of them already have been placed on the gambling floor. Many of those at the south end of the building also have been connected to central computers in Harrisburg for verification and tax purposes.

Others have been set into place, but are still dark and covered with plastic. Mr. Fasulo said it typically takes 10 weeks from the time the first slot machine is installed until the last one is set into place and turned on.

The casino suffered somewhat of a setback last week when heavy rains backed up storm drains and caused a seam in a pipe to break, spilling several inches of water into a storage area. It left 45 tabletop slot machines set for one of the casino's bars damaged beyond repair, but they will be replaced in time for the opening.

While the damage to those machines and 30 others nicked up in transit to the casino played a role in pushing back the opening date, it was not the main reason for it.

Mr. Fasulo said the casino probably was going to ask for a delay anyway, just to ensure it had enough time to get everything ready. He said he was confident it would hit the August 9 opening, given guarantees from vendors and suppliers that they could do so.

"Unless something catastrophically unexpected happens, August 9 is a good, comfortable date," he said.

The casino is not unacquainted with delays. After Detroit businessman Don Barden won the slots license in December 2006, construction was held up for nearly a year because of appeals by the losing bidders and lawsuits.

Work then stopped for nearly two months last year after Mr. Barden failed to secure permanent financing for the $780 million project and couldn't pay contractors. He ultimately relinquished control to a group led by Chicago billionaire Neil Bluhm.

Mr. Fasulo has been through many of the ups and downs. He said yesterday he felt "very gratified" to see the project finally coming together.

"We had perseverance. We were fortunate to bring good solid upstanding ownership that had the financial wherewithal to rescue this property. The alternative would have been we would be sitting amid rusting steel right now had that not occurred," he said.

Yesterday, quite to the contrary, the casino buzzed with construction, both inside and outside. In the Drum Bar, workers were testing the blue, orange and green lights in a 76-foot-high chandelier that is considered one of the casino's signature features.

Others were building out the casino's restaurant and bar spaces. In the Grand View Buffet, which will offer a variety of dishes from barbecue to Mongolian food, most of the kitchen equipment had been installed and much of the dining area was finished.

Outside, a second-floor dining terrace offered views of the Downtown skyline and rivers. Below it, a 1,200-seat outdoor amphitheater had formed on the riverbank. A 24-foot-wide esplanade that also will serve as a link of the North Shore trail was moving toward completion. Much of the concrete was in place and trees lined most of the path. It will be open to the public.

Overall, about 88 percent of the gambling floor and 92 to 93 percent of the total project has been completed, Mr. Fasulo said.

"We're about ready to bring this thing to life," he said.