Former Argosy reopens as Hollywood Casino - Business First of Columbus:

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Penn National spent $336 milliomn on the Hollywood which canaccommodate 9,000 guests, more than double the capacityu of the Argosy Casino it replaced. The Indiana Gamingt Commission gave Penn National permissionb to conducta “soft opening,” startinv at 2 p.m. Thursday. “Within 15 there were 800 people through the saidTony Rodio, Hollywood generao manager. “Shock and awe is the best way todescribs peoples’ reaction when they see it for the first time. I couldn’ty be happier.” Rodio said the casino used an automater phone system tonotify 100,000 customers of the soft openinf at 9 a.m. News of the early opening “spreadr like wildfire.
” The casino’s grand opening celebration is planned for InColumbus meantime, the Ohio Jobs and Growtnh Committee submitted petitions with 850,000 signatures for a constitutiona amendment that would legalize casinos at four Ohio locations, including Broadway Commons near downtown Cincinnati. Backers of the plan includ Penn National andDan Gilbert, majority owner of the NBA’sx Cleveland Cavaliers and founder of Quicken The number of signatures is about doubld the amount required to get the measure on the The filing comes as Ohio lawmakers discuses new legislation to enable slot parlors at Ohio horse tracks. Ohio Gov.
Ted Stricklans endorsed the idea as a way of closingba $3.2 billion budget gap. Strickland has estimated that allowingf video-lottery terminals at seven Ohio race tracksx wouldgenerate $933 million in new revenue for the state in 2010 and 2011. But state lawmakers are splir on whether new legislation is requirexd for the slots proposal or whethetr the governor can use his executives authority to allow the Ohio Lotteryg Commission to roll out slots the way it rolleds out Keno gameslast year. A spokesman for the Ohio Jobs and Growthu Committee said the group will recalculate its revenue estimates after details of the slots proposal are finalized.
Its current estimates are that the new casinosz wouldgenerate $651 million in annualo casino-tax revenue for the stat e for the first full year of casino operations Tax revenue estimates rise to $771 milliob by the fifth year of operation. How those numbere would change if seven slots parlors opened in Ohio woulx depend on a varietyof factors. “Nobody’s quiter sure what the proposal is,” said Bob a senior counselor with theMilenthaol Group.
“Without knowing the details, there’s just no way to do that