Perryville Casino Introducing Table Games in Early March

Blackjack, poker and other table games are on deck for Hollywood Casino Perryville, which rolls out live gambling on March 7, pending legislative approval.

Before that date, the Maryland Lottery will pay the Cecil County casino a visit for a demonstration to ensure everything is in order. That is scheduled for Tuesday, March 5.

In the meantime, Hollywood Casino is readying eight poker tables in its new poker room and 12 additional tables in its "main pit" for blackjack, roulette, craps and three- and four-card poker. In all, there will be 20 tables on property, said Jennifer Miglionico, the casino's director of marketing.

To create room for its new additions, Hollywood Casino Perryville will reduce the number of slot machines from 1,500 to 1,158, a reduction the state approved on Tuesday, the Baltimore Business Journal reported.

Because gaming is a state-regulated industry, changes must go through the Maryland Lottery Commission. Casinos must also report their revenues to the state, which receives a portion of the money for education and other projects.

According to its financial reports to the state, Hollywood Casino was raking in revenue after it opened in 2010, but revenue waned with increased competition in the market.

In December, the Perryville establishment's monthly revenue decreased 40.5 percent from the same month the previous year, after Maryland Live! casino opened in Anne Arundel County in June 2012.

Maryland voters approved the expansion of gambling in November, which casinos hope will increase their revenues across the board.

Maryland Live! officials announced Tuesday that the casino at Arundel Mills will begin offering table games on April 11.

Hollywood Casino in Perryville is betting on table games and 24-hour weekend operation to make a difference to its clientele. 

"We're going to be able to draw some people that have never been here before [and] now give them a reason to want to come," Bill Hayes, general manager of Hollywood Casino, told WJZ.

In addition to new clients, the casino increased its staff; it said in December that it planned to hire 100 people for live table games, and it held dealer schools to train them.

During a hearing before the lottery commission Tuesday, Hayes said that some of his new employees told him that Hollwyood is poised to pick up some of Delaware's casino traffic.

"They say 60 percent of the cars have Maryland license plates," Hayes said, according to an article in The Baltimore Sun. "Those people are driving right by us, and they won't have to anymore."

See Also:

• Perryville Casino to Add 100 Jobs
• Hollywood Casino Perryville Employing Many Locals
• Revenue Dips at Maryland Casinos in January
• Hollywood Casino Perryville Sees Revenue Drop
• The Hollywood Casino Blog on Havre de Grace Patch

This article was corrected at 10:25 a.m. Thursday to indicate there will be 20 total new tables at Hollywood Casino Perryville.