Racino clientele mostly Mainers Penn data centers on players club

BANGOR – The parking lot at Hollywood Slots on Main Street was nearly full by early afternoon Saturday, and most of the license plates read “Maine.”

Sprinkled here and there throughout the lot were plates from Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Brunswick, but most of the gamblers parked in front of the slot machines inside were Mainers.

The informal parking lot survey reflected customer data provided by Penn National Gaming Inc., which operates the racino.

Mainers make up an estimated 85 percent to 90 percent of the Hollywood Slots Players Club, which provides members with access to special promotions, Amy Kenney, manager of marketing and public relations, said Sunday.

Some club members come from Atlantic Canada, other New England states and even California, but most are from within the state, she said.

“The lion’s share is Maine,” Kenney said.

Of those customers “from away” who visited the slots Saturday, some said they came solely to game, while others wandered over while visiting with friends and family.

Art Brown of Grand Isle, Vt., arrived Saturday morning after a nearly seven-hour drive to try his hand at the slots.

“I like it,” he said of the facility, standing outside the building among a group of smokers. “It’s quieter than I thought.”

At one point, he was up $350 in 10 minutes, he said. That is, until his wife showed up.

“Then she sat next to me and it went down like a snowball on a hill,” Brown said.

Maureen Costa of Swansea, Mass., stopped by the slots Saturday while visiting her niece and nephew in Corinna, she said.

She wouldn’t make the five-hour drive just for the slots – Foxwoods in Connecticut is only 45 minutes away from her house – but she did see jackpots going off Saturday afternoon, she said.

“I think it’s going to be a big hit,” she said of the racino. “Maine needs something like this.”