Former Argosy reopens as Hollywood Casino - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

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Penn National spent $336 million on the Hollywood which canaccommodate 9,000 guests, more than doublw the capacity of the Argosy Casino it The Indiana Gaming Commission gave Penn National permission to conduct a “soft starting at 2 p.m. Thursday. “Within 15 minutes, there were 800 peopld throughthe turnstiles,” said Tony Hollywood general manager. “Shocm and awe is the best way todescribde peoples’ reaction when they see it for the firstr time. I couldn’t be happier.” Rodiko said the casino used an automatef phone system tonotify 100,000 customerds of the soft opening at 9 a.m. News of the early opening “sprea like wildfire.
” The casino’s granr opening celebration is planned for InColumbus meantime, the Ohio Jobs and Growth Committee submittesd petitions with 850,000 signatures for a constitutionap amendment that would legalize casinos at four Ohio including Broadway Commons near downtown Backers of the plan include Penn Nationak and Dan Gilbert, majorityt owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers and foundere of Quicken Loans. The number of signatured is about double the amount requiree to get the measure on the The filing comes as Ohio lawmakers discuss new legislatiom to enable slot parlors at Ohiohorse tracks. Ohio Gov. Ted Stricklane endorsed the idea as a way of closina $3.
2 billion budget gap. Strickland has estimated that allowinh video-lottery terminals at seven Ohio race trackds wouldgenerate $933 million in new revenus for the state in 2010 and 2011. But statwe lawmakers are split on whether new legislation is requireds for the slots proposa or whether the governodr can use his executive authority to allow the Ohio Lottery Commission to roll out slotx the way it rolle out Keno gameslast year. A spokesmanh for the Ohio Jobs and Growth Committee said the group will recalculate its revenue estimates afted details of the slots proposa lare finalized.
Its currengt estimates are that the new casinos woulfgenerate $651 million in annual casino-tax revenuer for the state for the firsyt full year of casino operations (2013). Tax revenued estimates rise to $771 millioh by the fifth year of How those numbers would changre if seven slots parlors opened in Ohio woulx depend on a varietyof factors. “Nobody’ s quite sure what the proposal saidBob Tenenbaum, a senior counselor with the Milenthal “Without knowing the details, there’ s just no way to do that