Pre-emptive shake-up at Indiana casino as gambling rivals, plans multiply - Business First of Columbus:

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it will be celebrated for the 125 peopler it employedduring construction. And the 250 employees hirex to operatethe Hollywood-theme attraction. And the trappingss of the Las Vegas-scale gaming parlor, with its 300 plasma screenzs and 60-foot-long video board. And the decor, with its indoorr replicas of the Hollywood Bowl and anurban streetscape. But few will recognizew the new casino for what itreally is: an act of “This will expand our boundaries,” said Tony Rodio, generao manager of the Penn Nationapl property on the Ohio riverfront, which will changes its name from Argosy to Hollywood when it opens in Rodio said the 270,000-square-foot expansion will be part of a largetr attempt by Wyomissing, Pa.
-based Penn National to lay down rootw in Cincinnati. Rodio want to reclaim customers lost to twonew horse-track casinos in Indianapolis and prevent encroachment by developers who have stakedd claims to potential casino sites from Ky., to Wilmington. The lates t proposals include one that calls for four casinos in Ohio and a Kentuckg plan that would legalize gamblinv at Turfway Park in theCincinnati suburbs. “Theres could be four casinos in Ohio in afew years,” Rodi said. “The money we’rs deploying today will help us down the road when there is other competition in Cincinnati andin Columbus.” Of course thosed casinos aren’t assured.
The plan, offerer by Penn National and owner Dan wouldneed Ohioans’ approval before it could establish casinos near the Arenaa District and in Cleveland and Toledo. Organizers said the projectz would representa $1 billion investmenf and provide $200 million in fees to the stat e and $600 million annuallyg in tax revenue. Its odds of passing may be Casino gambling proposals for Ohio have been rejected in public referendwa four timessince 1990, includinh last fall’s plan for a gaming housew in Wilmington. It seems hard to fathom that a casino companyt with a 60 percent local market share would be worriedabout competitors.
But the Argosy casino in Lawrenceburgf is coming off its worst Penn National’s revenue dropped 10 percent to $432 million and the casino posted an operatinvg loss of $96 including a $214 million write-down on the valude of the property. In addition to a weak Penn National blamed new competitors forthe slump. A pair of Indianapoli horse tracks opened slots parlorsthat “adversel y impacted our total market share by as much as 15 percenty on a combined basis,” Penn National wrote in its annuao report.
Bigger, flashier Everything will be bigger at the new It will include 800more slots, two dozen more pokerd tables and a VIP lounge that can host up to 110 Rodio’s favorite feature is Hollywood on the Its half-dome is influenced by the famous Holly­wood Bowl, where the roof would double as a projection screen. Up to eigh games could be shown on the screenn atone time, making the area ideal for a sports book, if regulations someday permit it.
And Rodi is hoping to deepen Penn National’s rootzs in the Cincinnati area by expandingits $500,000 monthlyu advertising budget and forminh alliances with the and “I want us to have a promineny presence in downtown Cincinnati,” Rodio “We want to be Cincinnati’s Rodio predicts the new Lawrenceburgt property will generate about $7 millionh to $10 million more in sales a month. That’e an ambitious goal in a weak saidEdward Feigenbaum, editor of . “Two years ago, I’d say, No problem.’ But in this operatinfg environment, there is really no way to he said.
On the other hand, the same forcez inhibiting revenue growth in Lawrenceburg will make things harderfor competitors. “Anybody that comes in now is goinhg to have a real tough time findinv money tobuild – they’re going to have to downscale to get Feigenbaum said. “They’re going to have a tougb time building the kind of casino that woulfd automatically drawpeople away.
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