Hollywood Casino opens Aug. 31

BAY ST. LOUIS -- Hollywood Casino Bay St. Louis, formerly Casino Magic, will open Aug. 31st at 11 a.m. much sooner than expected. Hollywood Casino officials had anticipated a fourth quarter opening for the storm damaged resort.

"Construction and restoration came together very quickly in these last few months, allowing us to open much earlier than anticipated," said Marty Moore, senior director of marketing for Hollywood Casino. "We are excited and delighted to get Hollywood Casino Bay St. Louis operational and back into the Mississippi economy," said Moore.

"It's a wrap!" said John Jagunich, CEO and president of Hollywood Casino Bay St. Louis. "We've had incredible support from our parent company, Penn National Gaming, our cast members, Roy Anderson Construction and local officials to pull this all together and open ahead of schedule," said Jagunich.

Over 75 percent of the former employees are returning.

Hollywood Casino will open with the Hollywood Hotel offering 291 guest rooms, 900 new slot machines, 20 unique table games and a new 6-table poker room. Three of four restaurants will also open -- Tuscany Steaks and Seafood, Jackpot Java, and the all new Epic Buffet. The Bridge's Clubhouse Grille will reopen with the Bridges Golf Course in mid-October.

The fully renovated casino operation, land-based, temporary facility has 17,000 square feet of function space and three private meeting rooms. "We've started booking meeting space which is important for the community as a whole," said Jagunich. "We were able to rebuild our meeting space with three additional meeting rooms to complement our original 10,000-square-foot ballroom."

The Hollywood Hotel is now accepting reservations for arrivals beginning Aug. 31. The Hollywood RV park has been open since February.