Bigger and bettors New slots facility welcomes public on opening day

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BANGOR – The long-awaited opening of Hollywood Slots Hotel and Raceway Tuesday got off to a brisk start with patrons beginning to arrive about 7:30 a.m., hours before the facility’s 10 a.m. official opening.

By the time the doors opened, the waiting crowd had swelled to 1,100, according to members of Hollywood Slots’ management team.

When opening time rolled around and the ribbon cutting still hadn’t happened, an unidentified male patron hollered, “It’s 10 o’clock – let’s go!”

Janet Diamond of Embden Lake and Dawn Bubier of Livermore were among those eager to see Hollywood Slots’ new digs.

Both women acknowledged they were hard-core slots fans whose endurance record now stands at 36 hours straight. Both have made several trips to Foxwoods in Connecticut and to Hollywood Slots’ temporary home, which closed late Sunday.

“We liked it,” Diamond said of Hollywood Slots’ first home in Bangor. “It was clean and the food was great. I’m hoping the food here [at the new complex] is just as good.”

Bubier, who retired Friday from a secretarial position at Livermore Falls High School, said gaming in Maine is “more relaxed” than in other places she has visited.

“I love to play slots. Last time I was here, I won $1,000. I am lucky,” said Bubier, who recently retired after she and her husband sold Touch of Class, the restaurant they ran in Madison.

Joseph Gallant, principal at Old Town High School, also was among those in line waiting for the new gaming and entertainment complex to open.

“I thought the place was very nice and very clean,” he said after his visit. He said, however, that he found the live music lined up for the grand opening festivities was “way too loud.” While he gave Epic Buffet high marks, he noted that the cashier line was long and the wait to pay after eating also was long.

“All in all, though, it’s a great place. I’m glad it’s here in Bangor, and I’m looking forward to going back,” he said.

Not everyone, however, was pleased with Hollywood Slots’ growth.

A group of about 20 demonstrators from Greater Bangor as well as communities as far away as Bucksport, Sorrento and Sebec lined up in front of the Paul Bunyan statue across Main Street and held up signs decrying various aspects of gaming in Maine.

Ilze Petersons, program coordinator for the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine, held up a sign calling the Bangor-based gaming operation “economic discrimination” because the state’s American Indian tribes so far have been excluded from gaming.

Maria Girourd of Orono, who mobilized the group, said given the Hollywood hoopla, the people of Maine are not hearing from those who “aren’t as impressed with what Hollywood Slots has morphed into.”

Girourd noted that slots were promoted as a way to salvage the state’s ailing harness racing industry during state and local referendum questions in 2003.

The slots complex originally was going to be built at Bass Park next to Bangor Raceway. The location, however, shifted to the other side of Main Street at the request of Bangor city officials, who wanted to keep space at Bass Park for a new arena to be funded through the city’s share of slots proceeds.

Because of the move, Girourd said, the benefits for harness horsemen have not materialized to the degree that they could have under the original scenario.

A number of people in the Bangor area have expressed the belief that a gaming facility next to the track would have made the relationship more symbiotic.

Hollywood Slots is owned by Pennsylvania-based Penn National Gaming.

The company’s new $132 million complex replaces an interim facility, which opened in November 2005 in the former Miller’s Restaurant building, a few blocks up Main Street.

Besides its 1,000 slot machines, the new complex has two restaurants, a lounge, a gift shop and a 1,500-space attached parking garage. A 152-room hotel also connected to the parking garage will open later this summer, likely in late July.

Tuesday’s grand opening featured live music, celebrity lookalikes and showgirls, among other things.

It was preceded Monday evening by an invitation-only VIP affair that also drew more than 1,000 guests. The pre-opening gala served not only as a venue for Hollywood Slots to thank those who played a role in developing the company’s permanent home, but also as charity play fundraiser for the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter and the Good Shepherd Food-Bank.

The shelter and the food bank each will receive $5,000, Amy Kenney, Hollywood Slots marketing and public relations director, said Tuesday.

As Hollywood Slots winds down its presence at its interim home at 427 Main St., the building’s former owners, the Miller family, are gearing up to exercise their option to buy it back.

Penn National bought the business from the Bangor restaurateurs in 2005 at a cost of $3.8 million, a price tag that included Post Time, the off-track betting operation that Penn National will retain.

Under the Miller family’s deal with Penn National, the family gets first dibs on buying the building back at a cost of $1 million once it is vacated this fall, John Miller confirmed Tuesday.

He already is champing at the bit to begin redeveloping the 2.5-acre parcel that overlooks the Bangor Waterfront.

“It’s kind of funny, because we closed the restaurant three years ago to the day,” Miller said Tuesday.

The U.S. Postal Service is among several entities that has expressed interest in using the site, which now is a finalist in the postal service’s search for a location for a new Bangor post office.

Miller, who envisions a multiuse development there, said he also has been talking with financial institutions and says he’s open to other potential uses.

“A restaurant certainly is on the plate, too,” he said.

Miller said the sale of the business came at a time when he and other family members were growing weary of running the family’s famed all-you-can eat buffet. Now that he has had a break from running a business, he’s ready for action.

“I’m putting my energy back into redevelopment. It’s kind of exciting, but at the same time, it’s kind of nerve wracking,” he said.

In addition to redeveloping the existing 17,000-square-foot former restaurant, Miller said there is enough additional land to house a new 8,000-square-foot building.

“The challenge is fun for me. I’m excited about being part of Main Street again,” he said. “Main Street, I feel, has a huge potential” given the boost it has received from Hollywood Slots and the city’s ongoing efforts to redevelop its waterfront and downtown.

dgagnon@bangordailynews.net

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