TWO’S A CHARM Bangor’s Hollywood Slots to mark second anniversary

BANGOR – Hollywood Slots at Bangor will mark its second anniversary on Sunday with several traditional birthday cakes. It can afford them, having recently surpassed $1 billion in total wagers and more than $74 million in net revenue, according to state figures.

Though the slots facility has operated out of the former Miller’s Restaurant on Main Street since its public debut on Nov. 4, 2005, the birthday bash will be its last at that address.

By the time the company’s third anniversary rolls around, the operation will have moved into a $131 million facility being built just up the street and across the road from Bass Park.

Construction on that project is in full swing. The parking garage is just about finished, and the gaming floor area and adjacent hotel will soon be weather-tight, so construction crews can tackle interior work during the winter and spring, Hollywood Slots spokeswoman Amy Kenney said.

When Hollywood Slots opened two years ago Sunday, hundreds of Mainers lined up outside the former Miller’s Restaurant for a glimpse of the state’s first slots facility, which made its debut with a Tinsel Town-style grand opening that featured celebrity look-alikes, searchlights and champagne.

Fast-forward two years, and the patrons still are coming in droves. And the money continues to pour into not only the slots, but also into city and state coffers.

Since it opened, the Bangor facility owned by Penn National Gaming Inc. has generated nearly $36 million in tax revenue for the state and nearly $3 million in revenue for Bangor, the operation’s host city. Hollywood Slots’ “head count” now stands at 1.6 million visits, though that number includes repeat visitors.

The monthly wagering handle, or “coin in,” also continues to grow at a steady rate.

Financial data maintained by the Maine Gambling Control Board show that as of the end of September, the most recent information compiled, the total wagering handle for Hollywood Slots’ 475 slot machines had just broken the $1 billion mark. The actual total amounted to $1,091,473,510.

That figure, however, is deceptive because it includes winnings that are put back into the machines and because by state law, at least 89 percent of the total handle must be returned in the form of jackpots to players. Hollywood Slots now pays out 93 percent.

Net revenues since the facility opened totaled $74,637,401 at the end of September.

According to the state’s slots law, Hollywood Slots is required to send the state 1 percent of its gross handle and 39 percent of its net revenue after the payout to players.

As of the end of September, the state had collected nearly $36 million in taxes from the slots. As agreed to in the law that authorized the racino, however, some of the taxes collected were dedicated for specific purposes, such as harness racing purses and promotion, University of Maine System scholarships, and the state gambling board’s administrative expenses.

As host city, Bangor so far has received $2.86 million from the slots, a portion of which was used to recover costs tied to locating the racino here, such as legal and lobbying costs. The rest is being socked away to replace the city’s aging auditorium.

City Manager Edward Barrett said Friday that the city had three objectives in mind when it decided to support the slots concept.

Those goals were to maximize private-sector investment in the city, develop a revenue stream that would enable the city to replace its aging auditorium without burdening taxpayers, and provide a means for supporting the area’s harness racing industry, which was in its death throes.

“I think clearly we’ve made some progress on all three of those things,” Barrett said Friday.

“We have seen some positive indirect benefits as well,” he said, citing a significant boost in construction activity, more jobs and increasing numbers of visitors. Barrett said the city is in the process of updating a location study for the new auditorium or arena. Consultants who recently met with city officials and others interested in the facility are expected to return to Bangor with recommendations around late November.

The permanent Hollywood Slots complex, slated to open in July, will debut with 1,000 slot machines, though the company is authorized to increase the total to 1,500. It also will include off-track betting and simulcast facilities, a 1,500-car parking garage and restaurant and retail space.

Though Penn National wasn’t required to add a hotel until its annual earnings hit the $120 million mark, the company concluded it would be more cost-effective to build it as part of the initial construction project. The hotel is scheduled to open in August.

Hollywood Slots will celebrate its second anniversary all day Sunday. Birthday cake will be served in front of the facility’s Elvis wall and small commemorative gifts will be handed out for as long as supplies last.