Casino Gambling

The designers of the $386 million casino describe it as Hollywood meets NASCAR. The casino has lots of film and racing memorabilia and also video displays. It also has 100,000-square-foot gambling floor segmented into areas resembling the movie studio back lots. For the local construction industry, the 268,000-square-foot casino already is proving to be a winner.

Nonresidential building activity was down 49 percent the first quarter of this year in the Kansas City metropolitan area, according to McGraw-Hill Construction. The unemployment rate in the local building trades is estimated at more than 25 percent. The Hollywood casino project is expected to employ 1,700 construction workers.Yaeger estimated that $180 million of the casino expense would be for hard construction. Besides the casino, the project includes a five-level garage with about 1,500 parking spaces. The entire complex covers 102 acres, with enough land set aside to accommodate a future expansion that includes a hotel with up to 300 rooms.The rest of the casino cost covers design work and the considerable expense of installing gambling machines and other furnishings.

The casino will have 2,300 slot machines and 86 table games, plus upscale food and entertainment amenities. The building architecture has an art deco flavor with subtle racing influences. The casino flows from the floor area in the front to the more open entertainment area facing the track. The track side has a beer garden with a view of the speedway. An integral part of the decor is the presence of many video screens, showing movie trailers and entertainment news the casino has a banquet area that can accommodate 1,000 people. The casino is expected to employ 1,050 people after it opens in early 2012.The Hollywood Casino is one of four regional casinos authorized by the state of Kansas in 2007.Management of the facilities is contracted out, but the owner is the Kansas Lottery. The regulating agency is the state Racing and Gaming Commission. Only one of the four casinos, in Dodge City, has opened so far.