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Hollywood Gaming to add 75 machines by 'hopefully' Sept. 1
By ROBERT CONNELLY
AUSTINTOWN
More video lottery terminals are coming to Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course.
Darren Crivelli, Austintown Township zoning inspector, said the racino sent plans for a building permit July 10, and it was approved Tuesday. The racino did not need a zoning permit because “there’s no change in use. They’re not adding square footage to the building,” Crivelli said.
The racino will have part of a temporary wall taken down to install 75 machines. This will increase the facility’s total to 941 video lottery terminals on its gaming floor. Hollywood Gaming opened with 850 machines and has been consistent with 866 VLTs for several months now in financial reports from the Ohio Lottery Commission.
“We’ve been open coming up on 10 months. We’ve been watching the numbers pretty closely, and it’s been based on the average win per day, and it’s been hovering around $300” per VLT in recent months, said Bob Tenenbaum, spokesman for parent company Penn National Gaming Inc. “It simply makes good business sense to be adding machines to the floor.”
Lehman Daman Construction Services of Columbus is the construction manager of the $975,000 project that will open up 2,200 square feet for the gaming floor. This will be the southeast corner of the facility, near the H Lounge and closer to the racing grandstands. The temporary wall is built around the side entrance.
That cost includes the construction and purchase of the VLT machines. “The majority of the work will actually be done by Mahoning Valley-based subcontractors” and workers, Tenenbaum said.
The denominations (penny machine, $5 machine, $25 machine etc.) of the 75 additional machines is not known yet, but Tenenbaum said those will be similar to games already on the floor. Due to the wall’s being built as a temporary one for future expansion, it will be taken down in panels. “It should be very minimal disruption other than the removal of that wall” for patrons, Tenenbaum said.
Tenenbaum said the goal is to “hopefully” have the machines available for racino patrons by Sept. 1, about two weeks before the one-year anniversary of Hollywood Gaming.
In other racino news, Mahoning County Common Pleas Magistrate Thomas M. Gacse affirmed the Austintown Township Zoning Board of Appeals’ decision to allow Hollywood Gaming to offer outdoor summer concerts.
A lawsuit was brought against the township zoning board by Ashley Facility Realty LLC, which operates Briarfield at Ashley Circle, a facility offering nursing and skilled rehabilitation services at 5291 Ashley Circle, which is adjacent to the racino.
It had argued that outdoor concert noise would disrupt the nursing-home environment. Penn National officials have said this year that the racino would not pursue outdoor concerts this summer, and had asked for the permission for the possibility of offering music events in the future.