A year after Miller’s Restaurant on Main Street in Bangor closed to make way for Maine’s first slots facility, the buses are back.

This time, however, the passengers aren’t coming for the Bangor restaurant’s famous all-you-can-eat buffet. Now they come to play some of the 475 slot machines at Hollywood Slots at Bangor, which marks its six-month anniversary next week.

Since its Nov. 4 opening, Hollywood Slots has brought a needed economic boost to Bangor, and the crime and traffic and other problems some warned would come with it have not materialized.

City and business leaders are hailing Hollywood’s success, based on their comments made this week to the Maine Gambling Control Board, which regulates the racino.

“Based on what we have heard … Hollywood Slots has been good for our region’s businesses,” said City Council Chairman John Cashwell, part of a Bangor caravan that traveled Wednesday to the board’s meeting in Augusta.

“Regional economic benefits are estimated at over $95 million in sales, $10 million in wages and salaries, and the creation of 500 jobs,” he said.

“This is good news for our residents and our economy,” the city official said, adding that Bangor expects greater returns from a proposed permanent facility.

Monthly financial reports show that the wagering handle – on which revenues for the state, city, harness racing industry and other beneficiaries are based – continues to go up, up, up.

Patrons are wagering an average of $1 million to $1.2 million a day, with Saturdays being the biggest betting days, according to Scott Woods, gambling control board auditor.

In fact, the top five handles all occurred on Saturdays, he said.

But the daily wager is a deceptive figure. By state law, 89 percent of the total handle must be returned in the form of jackpots to players. The total handle figure includes winnings that are put back into the machines. In addition, the state takes 51 cents out of every dollar wagered in the form of taxes.

Steve Lambert, Hollywood Slots assistant general manager, estimates that Hollywood Slots keeps 6.5 percent of the total handle.

“So that is not money lost out of people’s pockets,” he said.

Business booming

Between 1,200 and 1,400 patrons go to the facility each weekday, and on weekends, the number jumps to 3,500 to 4,000, Amy Kenney, Hollywood Slots’ manager of marketing and public relations, said recently.

Hollywood Slots has posted more than 200,000 visits since it opened.

Many of those patrons are arriving by the busload from such points south as Portland, Lewiston and Freeport.

“We’re happy with our operation at this point in time,” Lambert said this week during a briefing for Maine Gambling Control Board members.

“Really, we’re happy,” he said, “and the staff is phenomenal.”

General Manager Jon Johnson agreed.

“I’m very pleased with our results, and I’m pleased with our staff,” Johnson said Wednesday in a telephone interview from Pennsylvania, where he was taking management classes.

“I think I’ve been surprised by the very positive comments that we’ve gotten on our temporary facility,” the former Miller’s Restaurant on Main Street, Johnson said. Hollywood Slots’ Pennsylvania-based parent company, Penn National Gaming Inc., invested $17 million in renovations to turn the former home of Miller’s all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant into the state’s first, and only, racino.

“Our customers have been very complimentary. Wait until they see our permanent facility,” Johnson said.

Next phase

Originally targeted for 2007, Hollywood Slots’ $75 million permanent facility now is slated to open in mid-2008.

“That’s contingent on our acquiring all of the property that we need,” Johnson said.

Negotiations involving Penn National, the city of Bangor and the owners of the Holiday Inn-Civic Center and the Main Street Inn are winding down.

While he couldn’t get into specifics, “I can tell you that we’re very close” to completing negotiations for a new, permanent site, Johnson said

Though Hollywood Slots is authorized to operate up to 1,500 slots, Penn National’s plans call for housing 1,000 of the gaming machines in a brand-new facility to be built across Main Street from Bass Park, on land now occupied by the two hotels. The complex will include a 1,500-car parking garage, a new off-track betting facility, restaurant space and a retail shop, among other things.

Since Hollywood Slots opened in November, hotel occupancy has increased; traffic at local restaurants and at the Bangor Mall are up; and people from all parts of the state now are heading for Bangor to play slots, said Ken Huhn, treasurer of the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce, who also attended the Augusta meeting.

“Needless to say, the [Chamber] is pleased to have been an early supporter of this project,” he said during the Augusta meeting. “We remain committed to ensuring its future within our region and our state.”

Peter Geaghan, owner of Geaghan’s Pub at the Best Inn on Main Street, also made the trip to Augusta. He told the gambling board that business at his Irish pub is up about 20 percent.

The new revenue has enabled him to upgrade the eatery, including roof repairs, renovations and a new heating and cooling system, all work done by local companies.

Hollywood Slots staffers also have sent customers his way, the restaurateur said.

“All in all, they’ve been good neighbors, and we’re happy to have them on Main Street,” he said.

Hollywood Slots has been working closely with the local business community.

According to Lambert, Hollywood Slots has just rolled out a new discount program with 16 hotel partners and 32 retail partners. Under the program, patrons who sign up for a free Players Card are eligible for savings ranging from 10 to 25 percent at participating businesses.

Expanding work force, help for harness racing

The slots facility also has created jobs.

In a recent report to the Legislature, Johnson said the facility now employs 130 people, 120 of them full-time with benefits. All but a few were hired locally. Of those jobs, three are senior property executives making more than $100,000, nine are department heads earning an average salary of $53,000 and 126 are workers making an hourly rate of $9.30, with half of those also earning tips averaging $2.55 an hour.

Harness racing can expect to receive as much as $5 million this year from the interim facility, he said. In addition, significant improvements have been made to the grandstand, paddock and other parts of Bangor Raceway. By the end of the year, Johnson said, the total investment will reach $1 million.

The benefits to harness racing have not gone unnoted in the city.

Cashwell said that the 2006 harness racing season will see 16 more race dates than in previous years and that harness racing already has received more than $1.3 million toward purse supplements and the Sire Stakes Fund.

These revenues, he said, will boost purses significantly, provide higher incomes to those in the industry, and attract more horses and owners.

“Three years ago, harness racing in Bangor was struggling and, perhaps, on the verge of ending an over-100-year history,” he said. “Today, its future looks bright.”

No major crime

Though some gambling opponents feared the slots would bring an unsavory element to Bangor, Police Chief Don Winslow said there have been very few problems: no cheating, no gambling cons from out of state, no major spikes in traffic or accidents.

The disturbances stemming from the slots parlor to date have included two people summoned for smoking marijuana in a vehicle in the parking lot; an intoxicated male summoned for refusing to leave; a male arrested for violating a protection order; a firearm stolen from a vehicle in the parking lot; and a case involving a 72-year-old man who pushed a 42-year-old man while in line at an ATM.

“Virtually, they’ve been a good neighbor,” he said. “A [nightclub] type restaurant and bar would generate more crime.”

Home stretch

In the meantime, work continues toward a permanent home for Hollywood Slots.

Though the parties involved had hoped to close the deal by the end of last year, negotiations have taken longer than expected, largely because they are complex and involve several parties, namely Penn National, the host city and private property owners.

The hotel properties, across the street from Bass Park and Bangor Raceway, are among the few commercially zoned properties both large enough to accommodate Penn’s proposed 150,000-square-foot permanent facility with an attached multilevel parking garage and within the 2,000-foot radius of Bangor Raceway allowed by state law.

Once the deal goes through, the existing inns and two houses will be razed to make way for Penn’s project.

It looks like the money will be there for the permanent facility, as indicated by an exchange that took place this past week.

Corporate types sometimes get antsy when they are asked pointed questions about money, but gambling board member Michael Peters took a stab at it anyway.

During Wednesday’s meeting in Augusta, he asked Lambert of Hollywood Slots how well the company was doing compared to its projection for the Bangor operation.

Peters quizzed the assistant general manager about pro forma numbers, the projected budget figures that can be used as an indicator of a company’s financial health.

Lambert’s response was coy, but indicative of the general overall well-being of the racino to date.

“Are your [actual earning] numbers ahead of your pro forma numbers?” Peters asked, referring to the financial statements many companies use in earning reports.

“We’re ahead of pro formas,” Lambert said.

“Would you say you’re substantially ahead?” Peters pressed.

“I would say close to substantial,” Lambert replied.