Hollywood Slots looks at Nov. 4 for opening date

AUGUSTA – Penn National Gaming Inc. plans to open its doors to bettors on Nov. 4, two years to the day after voters passed the 2003 state referendum that legalized slot machines at Maine’s commercial harness racing tracks.

During a Tuesday meeting of the Maine Gambling Control Board, Jon Johnson, general manager for Penn National’s Maine operations, said that the company is set to open Hollywood Slots at Bangor, which will house up to 475 slot machines, at 10 a.m. on the first Friday of November.

“I’m going to go out on a limb [with regard to the opening schedule],” said Johnson, who until now has been reluctant to get too specific about when the facility would open over concern about having to change the date.

The public grand opening, Johnson said, will be preceded by a private, invitation-only VIP party on Nov. 2 with all after-tax proceeds to be donated to United Way of Eastern Maine. The facility will be closed on Nov. 3 to get ready for the public rollout.

“November 2 is looking really good,” Johnson said. He cautioned, however, that the opening date remained tentative because a few last-minute details need to be addressed before Hollywood Slots opens.

“One piece that might present an issue, we believe, is the bar [in the basement-level restaurant],” he said.

The appearance of the bar, part of a small dining operation downstairs, was changed after its original completion and needs another inspection before the state signs off on a liquor license, Johnson said.

The Bangor slots facility, located in the former Miller’s Restaurant on Main Street, also must undergo a health inspection by city code enforcement personnel, he said.

Gambling board members and staff are permitted to engage in the Nov. 2 festivities, but the slots are off-limits. State rules prohibit them from gambling in a facility they oversee.

Assistant Attorney General Melissa O’Dea, the board’s legal counsel, said that she will contact board members individually “to let you know what is appropriate,” she told them during the meeting.

“Well, we can eat shrimp,” joked George McHale, board chairman.

Also Tuesday, board members voted unanimously to change the status of a state slots distributor license for Bally Gaming and Systems from conditional to permanent.

The decision to grant the permanent license was made after board members received financial and other information not available to them during a meeting last month. Bally, owned by Alliance Gaming Corp. of Nevada, is one of three slots distributors Penn National has tapped to provide the machines it has ordered for Hollywood Slots at Bangor.

The approval means that the Bangor racino will get all of its slots installed and placed on line in time for the opening. Bally is expected to provide more than 100 slots or a third of the total.

Scientific Games, which has offices in Gardiner, also underwent a suitability hearing Tuesday during which no financial or criminal issues came to light. The state already has extensive experience with Scientific Games, which monitors the state lottery system. As the result of an agreement with the state, the company also will monitor the slot machines at Penn National.

Executive Director Robert Welch on Tuesday introduced three new members of the gambling control unit staff.

Scott Woods, formerly of the Maine Revenue Service, will serve as the unit’s auditor. Tapped to serve as civilian inspectors were Tom Russell, a retired police officer who has worked for the Baileyville Police Department, where he served as chief, and Dover-Foxcroft police departments, and Ed Olson, who retired from law enforcement work in Tucson, Ariz.

The Bangor slots facility will be the only one of its kind in Maine, at least for now. That is because Bangor was the only Maine municipality that provided the needed local approval by the state’s original end of 2003 deadline.

The Bangor facility, like several other Penn National gaming properties, will have a Hollywood movies theme. Because of relatively low ceiling heights in the former restaurant, it likely will be decorated with movie posters and similar items.