New Hollywood Casino opens in Columbus, Ohio

The Hollywood Columbus features more than 3,000 slot machines and 100 table games, including 30 for poker. The Horseshoe Cleveland has 94 table games and 2,083 slots while the Hollywood in Toledo offers 80 table games and 2,023 slots.  The Columbus casino will be the state's largest, though Cleveland could claim the honor by following through on an expansion that the owner, Rock Ohio Caesars, has said is still planned.

A second Horseshoe is to begin operating in Cincinnati in the spring, rounding out a set allowed under a constitutional amendment the state's voters passed in 2009. The issue received only 42 percent of the vote in Franklin County, but there was no lack of support Monday.

Several hundred players spilled in when Hollywood officials gave the go-ahead last Monday about 11:20 a.m., 40 minutes ahead of schedule. They joined a VIP crowd that included former Ohio State University running back Archie Griffin, the only two-time winner of the Heisman trophy; actress Ann-Margret; and former heavyweight boxing champ Buster Douglas, a Columbus native.

For now, state regulators believe the Hollywood Columbus will be the most lucrative, partly because of size and partly because the market is insulated from border-state casinos.
"My expectation is that this will be the flagship property for the state of Ohio," Ameet Patel, general manager of the Columbus casino, said in an interview Monday. "I won't rest until we get there."

The Hollywood will face competition from the Scioto Downs harness horseracing track in Columbus, which began featuring slotslike video lottery terminals in June. The Hollywood, like its sister in Toledo, is an open and airy, single-floor structure filled with art-deco and movie-industry trimmings. In contrast to the Horseshoe in the heart of Cleveland, the Columbus casino is relatively isolated, but four restaurants and live entertainment will provide customers with options on site.

The casino has about 2,000 full- and part-time employees, most of whom are from the area. Patel said about one in five lives on the city's West Side, where the Hollywood is located.

Patel and his staff conducted a test run Wednesday for invited guests and the Ohio Casino Control Commission, but he did not get clearance to open until commission Executive Director Matthew Schuler sent him an email about 7 o'clock Sunday night.

The Columbus casino originally was to be built downtown in the city's Arena District, according to the constitutional amendment. That angered a group of businesses led by The Dispatch Printing Co, which owns The Columbus Dispatch, and a deal was brokered to move the casino to the West Side.

The opening-day crowd gave the Hollywood the feel of the concourse at a packed stadium. Bettors flocked to blackjack and craps tables where they plunked down us$ 25 minimum bets.