But with its beeps, buzzes, billboards and lavish Hollywood bravado, the $336 million, 270,000-square-feet venue comes pretty close to a casino found on the famed strip.
And as in Vegas, you don’t have to like gambling to find fun.
Anthony Rodio, the Hollywood Casino’s general manager, said that fact is by design.
“Maybe you don’t gamble, but your boyfriend does,” he said. “You can have a drink at the bar and listen to the band.”
The casino toys with the senses.
It is hard to ignore the Betty Boop dealing blackjack, the Elvis impersonator ‘‘going pelvis’’ behind the bar or the flashing lights from the slot machines.
Built partly to keep up with the Joneses and to position the company if gambling is ever legalized in Ohio or Kentucky, the new ship replaced the 13-year-old Argosy Casino when it opened in July.
It is one of 19 casinos owned by Wyomissing, Pa.-based Penn National Gaming, one of the most profitable gaming companies in the nation. Penn owns a race track in Toledo.
Penn and Dan Gilbert, majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, are behind the multimillion ballot push that would have casinos built in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo. If the issue passes in November, Penn plans to open casinos in Columbus and Toledo.
Penn kicked in $37 million to defeat the proposed casino near Wilmington last year. It was the fourth Ohio casino defeat since 1990.
Hollywood Casino may be located in Indiana, but it draws quite the crowd from the Buckeye State.
About 13 percent of Hollywood Lawrenceburg’s business comes from the Dayton area.
Rodio said its largest chunk of customers comes from Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky areas.
Hollywood Casino, which is expected to generate about $50 million in incremental tax revenue for the State of Indiana and the City of Lawrenceburg, has already proven to be a successful, Rodio said.
“Customers are coming from further away and customers are skewing a lot younger,” he said.
Each Saturday, nearly 24,000 gamers play poker, slot machines and watch the roulette wheels spin near-classic and first-run movie posters and billboards.
Now closed and mothballed for sale, the Argosy boat drew about 17,000 people each Saturday.
On Penn’s new ship, plasma screens display movie trailers and photos of the greats — Humphrey Bogart, Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor and other familiar faces hang on walls.
Here are some highlights from the Hollywood Lawrenceburg:
SCREENING BAR
Featuring an expansive martini list and a 30-foot-high dome that serves as a video wall, the Hollywood on Roof bar is surely one of the ship’s most attractive features for those who don’t like to hold ’em or fold ’em.
Talents that grace the stage behind the circular bar include dueling piano players, rock ’n’ roll bands and an Elton John impersonator.
Rodio said the bar’s serpentine screen can play anything from eight football games at once on Sunday to a rainstorm over Cincinnati.
It’s a place for people who like to party.
“We are certainly attracting more people from downtown (Cincinnati) than we used to,” Rodio said, noting that on the weekend, the casino is one of the Cincinnati area’s largest attractions.
HOLLYWOOD OVERLOAD
From the gift shop hawking everything from an Elvis bust to Celebriducks — Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, James Brown and other celebrities as rubber ducks — to the grand, black and gold iron rod gate leading to the tree-lined “Slot Central Park,” the Hollywood theme oozes out of every pore in the casino.
“Hollywood means something to everyone,” said Rodio, noting that Lawrenceburg is the newest of Penn’s seven “Hollywood” properties.
Paired with the bings, bongs and bleeps found in every casino, music from the band, the modernized 1930s Hollywood theme offers a unique audio visual experience.
On a recent visit, nine movie billboards were positioned above to advertise first-run movies such as “Year One,” District 9” and “2012.” Film trailers greet gamblers as they enter the casino, and posters of actors playing poker — John Wayne, Robert Redford, Frank Sinatra, Clark Gable and others, hang in the poker room.
The casino plans to upgrade its restaurants and pavilion in the next two years with the Hollywood theme.
DEALER-TAINERS
Thursday through Saturday, select members of the Hollywood staff of blackjack dealers enter the casino’s Celebrity Pit as some of your favorite stars — Madonna, Elvis, Patsy Cline and others. The impersonators were regular Argosy blackjack dealers who auditioned for the roles. They attract crowds.
“Madonna is dealing and then she’s on stage dancing to ‘Vogue,’” Rodio said, noting that people often shower the moon-walking Michael Jackson impersonator with money when he takes the stage.
BIG POKER ROOM
Sanctioned by the World Poker Tour, Hollywood’s poker room will host a nationally-televised tournament next year.
The room more than doubled the casino’s poker capacity from 17 tables to 41.
Now about 410 people can play at once.
The old boat couldn’t handle the number of people who wanted to play Texas Hold ’Em.
“We could have 100 people on the waiting list to play,” Rodio said.
PLAYER’S CLUB
The casino comes with a player’s club for those who have reached Producer status on their membership reward card. The club decorated with hanging glass light fixtures and comfortable lounge furniture features free food and a private bar.
Argosy didn’t have a club, but Rodio said all of its competitors did.
CONTACT this reporter at (937) 225-2384 or
arobinson@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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