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Maine’s Gambling Options Soon to Expand

November 28, 2011 - Portland — Gamblers have been able to play slot machines in Maine for six years. In a matter of months, they'll be placing bets on blackjack, poker and craps as casino table games arrive.

Hollywood Slots in Bangor plans to add 14 table games in the spring, possibly as early as March. There'll be six tables for blackjack, four for Texas Hold 'Em poker and one each for let-it-ride poker, three-card poker, craps and roulette.

A casino under construction in Oxford that's slated to open in June plans to have at least 10 table games, but the exact number and type of games has yet to be determined.

Marty Arbo is looking forward to playing blackjack and poker in Bangor. The arrival of table games will draw Mainers, as well as casino-goers from New Hampshire and Massachusetts, who now go to Foxwoods casino in Connecticut, he said.

"Instead of all of us driving to Foxwoods, it'll be in our backyard," said Arbo, 55, who lives in Patten 90 miles north of Bangor.

The arrival of table games is expected to boost the number of employees at the casinos.

At Hollywood Slots, 14 table games may not sound like much, but it will add 89 jobs paying $4 million in salaries and benefits, said John Osborne, general manager.

The jobs include card dealers, pit bosses and others directly linked to the table games, as well as surveillance workers, cashiers, service personnel and others who will be need to be hired.

With poker competitions popular on TV, the casino industry has seen people in the 25- to 35-year-old range drawn to poker and other casino table games, Osborne said.

The table games will complement Hollywood Slots' 1,000 slot machines and its pari-mutuel wagering room where customers can watch and bet on horse races at a number of horse tracks around the country, he said.

To reflect the change in the offerings, the casino is changing its name to Hollywood Casino Bangor early next year.

Hollywood Slots has had slot machines since it opened in November 2005.

But it was prohibited from having table games until voters in Penobscot County gave their approval in a countywide vote on Nov. 8.

"People had presumed when the vote came in that we would open table games the very next day," Osborne said.

"They are definitely excited about the prospect of table games coming to Bangor."

The casino in Oxford, which hasn't been named yet, was approved by referendum in 2010, with voters approving both slots and table games.

Final decisions on the number of slot machines and tables games have yet to be made, but having table games is an important part of the casino's business model, said spokesman Scott Smith.

"The larger portion of revenues comes from slots," he said.

"But when you look at having a full complement of gaming choices, you bring in people interested in table games and they bring in somebody who plays the slots.

It rounds out your offerings."

The Maine Gambling Control Board still has to sign off on table games rules that will be incorporated into the state's existing slot machine regulations, said Executive Director Patrick Fleming.

Fleming has been developing standards for things such as surveillance over table games, how the money is handled and how it's accounted for.

Regulations will include details such as how big the dice are, what shape they have to be and how they are configured -- with the six spot on the opposite side of the one, the five and two spots on opposite sides, and the three and four spots on opposite sides.

The cards used for poker and blackjack must have the logo on the casino on the back and a white border at least 3/16 of an inch wide.

The board is expected to vote on the final rules at its Dec. 20 meeting.

"We have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it," Fleming said.

Clarke Canfield, Portland Press Herald, November 2011


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