Maryland Live casino to invest USD 200 million

“That will be a Phase Two,” Cordish said. “We’re now turning our attention to it.” The Cordish Cos. have been talking with county authorities about it, he said, yet no formal plans have been filed yet. He envisions a mid- to high-rise building next to the casino, which draws about 7.5 million visitors a year, with about 300 rooms & a spa offering saunas, facials, mud treatments, “the whole works.” Space for meetings moreover is being considered. Cordish called it a “major investment” with an estimated cost of about 200 million.

That’s less than half the cost of building the casino, which was close to 570 million with the addition of table games & a two-level poker room after it opened only with slot machines. The hotel could open by 2016, Cordish said, the same year an MGM Resorts International casino is expected to open at National Harbor, a convention & resort complex on the Potomac River in Prince George’s County, 33 miles away.

The hotel could open by 2016, Cordish said, the same year an MGM Resorts International casino is expected to open at National Harbor, a convention and resort complex on the Potomac River in Prince George's County, 33 miles away. Cordish said the hotel plan is not in response to National Harbor, which is expected to draw some gamblers away, but it would allow Maryland Live to offer their most loyal customers free rooms.

"It's as much a reward for our base customers," he said. "A lot of these gamblers go when you're sound asleep. It's 2, 3, 4 in the morning. You're going to comp them a room. … We'll be able to add another weapon to our arsenal."

The only other Maryland casino now connected to a hotel is Rocky Gap in Allegany County, which was a struggling state-run resort before it was sold to a private company in 2012 and the casino opened there last year. The hotel offers 200 rooms and a spa.

A hotel at Maryland Live would be entering a crowded market that has been flooded with hotel rooms in the past few years, said Connie Del Signore, CEO and president of the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Conference and Visitors Bureau.

Hotel revenues were up about 7 percent in April, she said, but recently "a lot of hotels have had to reduce their rates to compete," given the expansion in supply.