Explore Harford: Lines? You bet!
Lines? You bet!
BY RACHEL KONOPACKI
Posted 10/08/10
If you visited Hollywood Casino Perryville this past weekend, you may have found yourself waiting in line just to set foot inside the building.
The casino reached its maximum capacity of little more than 3,000 guests more than once its first weekend in operation, forcing anxious guests to wait in line to enter the casino.
?Guest safety is more important to us than our revenue,? Marc DeLeo, director of marketing, said Thursday. ?People wanted to come check us out for the first time and we have had a lot of business from all over Maryland.?
Hollywood Casino Perryville, the first casino in Maryland, opened to the public Sept. 27. The grand opening ceremony for the facility featuring Gov. Martin O?Malley was Sept. 30.
DeLeo said there were times on Friday and Saturday where guests had to wait outside for a chance to try their luck.
?As people left, more came in,? DeLeo said, adding that as a certain number of guests left the casino, the same number of people were let inside. ?I think the wait could have been between 10 and 20 minutes. We did the best job we could to serve our guests, get their cars parked and get them in the building as quick as possible and onto slots machines or into the buffet.?
Even with the first casino opened in the state, Maryland may still have lost casino money to other states last weekend.
Unfortunately, the line outside the casino may have deterred some guests from getting out of their cars last weekend, and many may have went to Delaware Park to gamble.
DeLeo said the Hollywood Casino Perryville was expecting to be extremely busy its first weekend.
?I think for Saturday we were expecting to be really busy, but it may have exceeded our expectations a little bit,? he said. ?October is usually a busy time for casinos anyway because it gets colder and people are looking for more and more things to do inside on the weekends.?
This past weekend was not only profitable for Penn National, the gaming outfit selected to run the casino, but also two Maryland residents who walked away jackpot winners.
A Severna Park resident won a $21,600 jackpot last Friday, and a Westminster resident won a $15,000 jackpot on Sunday.
With almost two weeks of operation completed, DeLeo said the casino is working on fine tuning some things.
?We are just fine tuning some things as we go and listening to our customers,? he said, adding there were two main issues the customers had with the casino, which have been addressed.
DeLeo said customers were complaining the casino was too cold, so the temperature was adjusted.
?We did have some issues with some blowers,? he said. ?If you were under one of the vents, it was cold.?
The second issue dealt with beverage service at the slot machines.
Initially, players could get a nonalcoholic drink from the self serve stations around the casino or pay a dollar to be served a nonalcoholic drink or coffee at a slot machine.
?We re-evaluated and we are now serving nonalcoholic drinks and coffee for free at the machines,? DeLeo said.
He said guests will no longer need to pay a dollar to get a nonalcoholic drink at a slot machine. He said guests are still welcome to get a beverage at the self-serve stations.
Lines? You bet!
BY RACHEL KONOPACKI
Posted 10/08/10
If you visited Hollywood Casino Perryville this past weekend, you may have found yourself waiting in line just to set foot inside the building.
The casino reached its maximum capacity of little more than 3,000 guests more than once its first weekend in operation, forcing anxious guests to wait in line to enter the casino.
?Guest safety is more important to us than our revenue,? Marc DeLeo, director of marketing, said Thursday. ?People wanted to come check us out for the first time and we have had a lot of business from all over Maryland.?
Hollywood Casino Perryville, the first casino in Maryland, opened to the public Sept. 27. The grand opening ceremony for the facility featuring Gov. Martin O?Malley was Sept. 30.
DeLeo said there were times on Friday and Saturday where guests had to wait outside for a chance to try their luck.
?As people left, more came in,? DeLeo said, adding that as a certain number of guests left the casino, the same number of people were let inside. ?I think the wait could have been between 10 and 20 minutes. We did the best job we could to serve our guests, get their cars parked and get them in the building as quick as possible and onto slots machines or into the buffet.?
Even with the first casino opened in the state, Maryland may still have lost casino money to other states last weekend.
Unfortunately, the line outside the casino may have deterred some guests from getting out of their cars last weekend, and many may have went to Delaware Park to gamble.
DeLeo said the Hollywood Casino Perryville was expecting to be extremely busy its first weekend.
?I think for Saturday we were expecting to be really busy, but it may have exceeded our expectations a little bit,? he said. ?October is usually a busy time for casinos anyway because it gets colder and people are looking for more and more things to do inside on the weekends.?
This past weekend was not only profitable for Penn National, the gaming outfit selected to run the casino, but also two Maryland residents who walked away jackpot winners.
A Severna Park resident won a $21,600 jackpot last Friday, and a Westminster resident won a $15,000 jackpot on Sunday.
With almost two weeks of operation completed, DeLeo said the casino is working on fine tuning some things.
?We are just fine tuning some things as we go and listening to our customers,? he said, adding there were two main issues the customers had with the casino, which have been addressed.
DeLeo said customers were complaining the casino was too cold, so the temperature was adjusted.
?We did have some issues with some blowers,? he said. ?If you were under one of the vents, it was cold.?
The second issue dealt with beverage service at the slot machines.
Initially, players could get a nonalcoholic drink from the self serve stations around the casino or pay a dollar to be served a nonalcoholic drink or coffee at a slot machine.
?We re-evaluated and we are now serving nonalcoholic drinks and coffee for free at the machines,? DeLeo said.
He said guests will no longer need to pay a dollar to get a nonalcoholic drink at a slot machine. He said guests are still welcome to get a beverage at the self-serve stations.
