Gambling control board to tour slots facility

BANGOR – Members of the Maine Gambling Control Board will head north to Bangor this week.

That’s because the board, which usually conducts its business at the headquarters of the Maine Department of Public Safety in Augusta, will combine its meeting Wednesday with a tour of the soon-to-open Hollywood Slots Hotel and Raceway complex located at 500 Main St.

The tour is not open to the public. It is limited to state public safety staff and members of the gambling control board, chaired by George McHale of Orrington, who also heads the state’s harness racing commission.

The agenda for the meeting, which begins at noon at the Bangor Civic Center, includes Executive Director Robert Welch’s report on the timeline for the opening of Hollywood Slots’ new $131 million gaming and hotel complex.

Board members also will hear updates on finances and state police activities and review a letter to entities that receive funding from slots proceeds asking for assistance with Hollywood Slots’ opening costs and amendments to the slots facility’s internal control standards.

The new Hollywood Slots facility, which is nearing completion, is scheduled to open July 1 with 1,000 slot machines, more than double the roughly 490 machines now available at the company’s temporary home in the former Miller’s Restaurant, located a few blocks up Main Street.

During the gambling board’s last meeting on April 17, Hollywood Slots General Manager Jon Johnson said that Hollywood Slots planned to shut down its interim facility after closing time on Sunday, June 29. He said the company hoped to accomplish the move to the new complex within a 24-hour period, with a brief reopening on the evening of Monday, June 30, for a charity play event for invitees.

The official grand opening for the public is set for the morning of July 1.

Besides slot machines, the new gambling complex will feature a state-of-the-art simulcast facility for those who prefer wagering on horse races, live musical entertainment on Friday and Saturday nights, a gift shop, a nearly half-mile long buffet, and a smaller snack bar.

In keeping with the “Tinsel Town” theme, a creative design firm from California has developed a concept for the overall complex, an art deco look with ornamental columns, fins and similar touches.

The look is meant to evoke the grandeur of a glamorous hotel from 1920s and 1930s Hollywood, according to Hollywood Slots spokeswoman Amy Kenney.

A connected seven-story hotel is scheduled to open in August. It will have 152 rooms, four of which will be double-size penthouse suites. Many of the rooms will offer views of the Penobscot River and the Bangor-Brewer skyline.

The hotel will include a business center and fitness area, as well as two rooms for meetings and conferences, both equipped with flat-screen panels for video displays.

The complex, which includes an attached four-level parking garage with 1,500 spaces, is huge by Bangor standards, taking up most of the 8-acre site the operation occupies.

dgagnon@bangordailynews.net

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