Work is performed where slot machines will be installed at new Hollywood Casino. (Photos: J.D. Pooley/Sentinel-Tribune)

TOLEDO — The dress code at the Hollywood Casino near downtown Rossford is hard hats
and fluorescent nylon vests. Construction crews leave nothing to chance even
when building a casino.
And the inside of the 125,000-square-foot casino floor is still a construction zone,
one that is on schedule, said Richard St. Jean, the Hollywood Casino Toledo’s
general manager.
St. Jean said if he could the casino would be ready to welcome gamblers in mid-March.
But Penn National Gaming, the Pennsylvania owner of the project, will have to
wait.
While the company had hoped to open for business sometime in April, it must wait
while the extensive licensing paperwork including background checks of
employees, investors and suppliers makes its way through the State Gaming
Commission.
St. Jean said Friday that Penn National never announced an opening date, so
technically this isn’t a delay.
Bob Tenenbaum, a Columbus-based spokesman for Penn National, said the company should
have a better idea when the casino will open after the commission meets Feb. 1.
He noted that the commission had said the delay would be “a matter of weeks, not
months.”
St. Jean said he could have gaming tables on the floor in February, if he gets
approval of the gaming commission.
The Toledo casino could be the first to open in the state. Tenenbaum said this and a
Cleveland casino being built by another developer are working on the same time
frame.
On Friday, the casino opened its doors to appropriately attired members of the press,
including reports from Columbus, Fort Wayne, Ind. and Windsor, Ontario.
Amid the welding and drilling and swirls of electric and data cables coming up from
the floor where slot machines will be, the glamor of old Hollywood that the
company seeks to evoke in the decor was evident.
Pillars at once reminiscent of a 1930s movie palace and an old-time adventure film
that might have been screened there rise above the workers. Sections of a gaming
floor are covered with carpeting with bold geometric patterns. St. Jean noted
the “rich” tan and maroon paint scheme.

A worker welds inside the new Hollywood Casino.

And, as Mike Galle, assistant general manager said, “Marilyn is in the house.”
He gestured to a large poster of Marilyn Monroe that decorates the 260-seat Las Vegas
style buffet restaurant.
What’s left to the imagination are all the digital screens that fill the place,
flashing promotional material, movie trailers, scene from classic films and
sporting events.
Jason Birney, vice president for marketing, said Hollywood Casinos has promotional
agreements with most of the major studios. Those promotions may go beyond the 14
billboard and multiple screens and actually be incorporated into some of the
gaming stations.
In addition to the buffet, the casino will include a “grab-and-go” station for fast
food, and on the other end of the culinary spectrum the Final Cut Steakhouse,
serving steak and seafood flown in res from the coast. The restaurant overlooks
the Maumee and the Port of Toledo.
Figuring prominently in that view is the I-75 bridge over the river.
The casino location just a few hundred feet from the Miami Street exit and its
proximity to I-90, and the upgrades on U.S. 24 give the casino some of the best
access of any casino in the country, said John McLaughlin, vice president of
finance for the venture.
St. Jean said he sees the casino drawing business from Fort Wayne to the west,
Detroit to the north and Findlay to the south, with maybe some further afield
until the Columbus casino opens. He said because the casino is non-smoking it
could draw some U.S. customers who now go to Windsor because they want a
non-smoking atmosphere. Smoking is allowed in Detroit casinos.
St. Jean said at this point he doesn’t expect bus tours account for a large share of
the casinos business. The company hasn’t really investigated that yet, though it
may look at mid-week tours later if traffic warrants it.
Hiring for the more than 1,200 full- and part-time employees continues. More than
30,000 people have applied for jobs, McLaughlin said. The company is on track to
meet and maybe exceed its promised goal of hiring 90 percent of its workers from
the Toledo area.
The casino, St. Jean said, aspires “to be the employer of choice” for area residents.

Training of blackjack dealers has started. One class of about 120 has already
graduated from the program offered through Owens Community College, with another
slightly smaller class scheduled to graduate on Friday. The best of those
students will go on to be trained to operate the roulette wheel or run the craps
table.
Local job fairs have attracted as many as 3,000, though one at Bowling Green State
University this week, was hindered by bad weather.
St. Jean noted that everyone who attends a job fair gets to talk in person to someone
from the casino. Those attending must fill out an application online beforehand.

None of those trained had any casino experience. Only those in supervisory positions
have worked in gaming before, St. Jean said.
The training starts from scratch, he said, but that doesn’t matter.
“I can train anyone to deal blackjack,” St. Jean said. “You can’t train them to be
service ambassadors.”
The importance of providing friendly service is evident in the area devoted to
employees, which includes a small gym — “we feel happy, healthy team members
provide better service,” St. Jean said.
Signs along the corridor leading past the wardrobe area and to the employee dining
area serve up mantras for customer service from “Smile, speak first, call them
by name” to “Send them home with a smile and invite them back.”