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Maryland Casino to Open with High Expectations

Posted on September 28th, 2010

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The residents of Maryland will finally get a taste of playing in a casino right in their own state. The gamblers of the state, who have been used to traveling outside their borders just to play at a casino, will have all the slot games they can hope to play as the Hollywood Casino Perryville finally opens its doors on Thursday. The public was a bit disappointed as the casino did a dry run on Saturday, but was only open to an invited group. Moreover, those invited, who are fans of the usual casino table game fare, had their mood a bit dampened with the all-slots offering.

Penn National Gaming, the owner and operator of the casino is expecting the 1,500 slot machines that populate the facility to be occupied the entire evening of Thursday. The company, with the impending success of their first venture in the state, hopes to add more facilities and expand in the region. However, the laws of the state allow a developer only one license for the entire state. Penn National hopes that the success of the upcoming facility and the commitment they are showing to it will convince the legislators to modify the current laws. The Northeast region of the US has seen a lot of action in the area of expanded gambling, citing that the move will bring more revenue to the state budget. Of all the states, Pennsylvania has shown the most aggressiveness with a number of facilities already in operation, plus the SugarHouse Casino which just opened last week. With the Hollywood Casino to be in operation, Maryland will now attempt to wrestle back the customers that neighboring New Jersey has taken away from it.

Atlantic City has taken a beating because of the economic recession, with the gaming industry suffering a dwindling attendance. With the competition from its surrounding areas, Maryland seems to have added a nail to its coffin, spelling the slow death of what used to be the East Coast’s answer to Las Vegas. Atlantic City does not seem to see itself returning to pre-recession form, especially in the area of revenue generation, now that it is faced with rivals from Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland. With the current license they are holding, Penn National can only be a partner in another casino venture in Maryland, with MI Developments Inc. Meanwhile, the Arundel Mall plan to add slot machines there will have to be approved by voters in a referendum this coming November. If the latter plan pans out, the mall will be the license holder. If the voters approve otherwise, then Penn National can try out for its plans with MI Developments, MI being the license holder for their plan for a facility in the Maryland Jockey Club.

The manager of the mall, Carol Brown, said, “Of course, it will bring more traffic to the area, which will benefit everyone in our small community here. They will probably benefit from our traffic as well because we are geared toward a lot of tour bus groups.” Meanwhile, the president of Stewart Associates, Gary Stewart, Jr., said, “As long as the state has talked about slots, we’ve envisioned a place like this in Cecil County. We need to make sure the retail and entertainment venue and everything we put on the property is a complement to the casino.” Cecil County is the area where the Hollywood Casino is located. The obvious impact that the Perryville facility will have is on the economic side, where 350 employment opportunities will be made available to the public. Eighty percent of the new hires will come from the counties of Cecil or Harford, which will surely benefit from the income and payroll taxes of these workers. What will follow is a domino effect, as families will have income to spend, so different businesses in the area will flourish as well. Moreover, the casino is also set to funnel tax revenues to the counties for their use, making more of their projects more realizable. Opponents of casinos in Maryland are still a respectable number, although not as vocal as opponents of casinos in neighboring states.