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Charles Town Casino Aiming For Fourth Of July Weekend Opening Of Table Games

Posted on June 3rd, 2010

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By July, Charles Town Races & Slots will be known as Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races. Residents of Jefferson County approved in December in an overwhelming vote the proposal to allow table games at Charles Town track. Penn National Gaming Inc., the company that owns the track, wants to have the dealers and the games all set and operational by the Fourth of July weekend, expecting it to be a very busy Holiday weekend.

But the laws governing the licensing process in West Virginia clearly state that licenses for table games in the state which are priced at $1.5 million for the opening year and $2.5 million every year after that, can be released only at the start of the state’s fiscal year, which is July 1.

In Charleston, West Virginia, the assistant director of the state Lottery, John Myers, said the gaming tables cannot be installed in the facility until Charles Town gets a license. If officials of Penn National Gaming are so eager to start the table games, so are the officers of the state Lottery. Myers said they are willing to dispense the license even as early as one minute after midnight of July 1 if Penn National could be as quick in delivering the check.

Charles Town general manager Al Britton said although they only have a few days, they are focused on their goal and their hopes are high that the table games will make it by the fourth of July. He said company officials have devised a workable plan that they believe could help them launch the tables by July 4th.

Since December, after voters approved the proposal, efforts have been under way to prepare the facility to provide accommodation for table games. Britton said Charles Town management and employees, as well as contractors have been busy getting the track ready for the launching in July. He said the renovations would turn the track into a Las-Vegas casino destination.

As one enters the lobby, one can already glean suggestions of a 1930s art deco interior design. And the entire gaming floor seems to transport patrons back to Hollywood in the ‘30s with the rooms’ classic looks and charm of those bygone years interplaying with the 5,000 slot machines and the 85 table games arranged in nine areas which include a 27-game poker room and a non-smoking high-stakes gambling section.

Britton said the “Hollywood” attached to the track’s new name would emphasize the casino’s feel of Hollywood that would surely be experienced by customers, at the same time preserving the long-established tradition of racing in Charles Town. More than 400 people are now being trained for jobs as table game dealers at the Blue Ridge Community and Technical College in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

The school, a two-year state college is one of three colleges that train dealers in accordance with permission given by the state lottery commission. Pat Hubbard, coordinator of economic and work force development at the school who supervises the series of trainings in Charles Town, said expert veteran dealers were hired by the college to train the dealers.

Hubbard said training costs are borne by the trainees but their expenses will be reimbursed after working for a year at the casino. A two-week introduction to gaming session will cost $200. Training for all games except craps will cost $400 and classes will last four weeks, while training for craps will require eight weeks at a cost of $700. Britton said more than 280 of the trainees are from West Virginia and almost half of them are from Jefferson County.

Penn National has given the assurance of more jobs if table games are approved. The company said the casino needs table games to compete with potential gambling expansion in Pennsylvania and Maryland.