Player's Club Update

$5 single line games:
7/5 bp 98.01%
9/5 DDB 97.87%
9/6 DB 97.81%
8/5 job 97.3%
joker2pr 100/4k/100/100/16/85421 97.19%
DW 200/20/12/944321 97.06%

I just got back from a short trip to Hollywood Casino at Penn National in Grantville, PA. I did not have time to check every machine, but I will give a general overview of what I saw. As far as video poker goes, I saw nothing better than 8/5 JOB at the $1 level and 7/5 JOB or 6/5 Bonus Poker at the .25 level. The place was about 90% slots with only one small section with video poker. The best games are the same electronic blackjack games that have made an appearance at other PA casinos. There are 3 of these, 1 at the $10 minimum level, 1 at the $15 minimum level, and 1 at the $25 minimum level. There also was 1 $10 minimum electronic 3 card poker machine. I know nothing about this game, so I have no idea if the paytable is similar to real table games elsewhere. The casino has 3 levels. Slots and most restaurants are on the first level. A sports bar and simulcast horse betting is on the second level. The third level houses the new glassed in live horse racing observation area. The slot club offers points that can be redeemed for comps. That was as in depth a description as I got and the literature lying around wasn't any more detailed than that either. I didn't play enough to get any idea what anything is worth and the slot club was a zoo anyhow with all the new signups, so I did not go back up and ask. The place is quite an upgrade over what was there before which had all of the atmosphere of a barn, but outside of the few electronic blackjack games, I didn't see anything worth playing. I live not too far away and will likely swing by again in the next couple of weeks. I'll update if I missed something.

General Casino: Casino consists of five story garage with attached elevator. Casino consists of five floors of which only three are open to the public. Slots are all on the first floor. There is a racing simulcast on the second floor. Third floor contains the indoor observation platform for the live racing track. The administrative basement and banquet/racing officials top floor are closed to the public. Video Poker: The selection consists of about 100 machines - 80 of which are .25/.50/$1 machines and 20 of which were $1/$2/$5 machines. The video poker area is on the North side of the first (slots) floor between the cashier and what is to become the Epic Buffet. However, only eight of the $1/$2/$5 machines are in this area. The remaining twelve surround the inside and outside wall of the separate high- limit area. The $1/$2/$5 vp machines feature Jacks or Better, Bonus, Double Bonus, Double Double Bonus, Joker's Wild, and Joker Poker. The JOB paytable is 8 for a full house and 5 for a flush. (I did not change the machine to $5 however to determine if the paytable was the same at that level). Most of the quarter machines were in use. There was one standard bank of Joker Poker, one progressive bank of Joker Poker, and two Pick 'Em machines. JOB on the .25/.50/$1 machines was only 7/5. (However once again, I did not increase to $1. It's possible that at the $1 level it pays 8/5 the same as the $1/$2/$5 machines). Slots: Mostly one and two penny slots. The lowest full bet needed for a jackpot on the one cent machines was .75 a spin. A few others were .90 a spin. Most were $2.00 to $6.00 a spin if you played for full value. Far worse even than Atlantic City if you ask me. Nickel machines require 45 credits for a full bet. There were only one hundred standard five quarter, five line slots in the whole place with one progressive bank of nine. There were none of your fancy linked progressives like Wheel of Fortune or such. An additional one hundred quarter slots require multiple quarters per line. There are about 200 one line five quarter slots. There are about 100 three quarter one line slots, including some progressives. Drink Service: Arrived at 3:45pm Tuesday afternoon to find that there are no alcoholic drinks served on the slot floor to those who have the original slot club tier (Director). Observed some people drinking on the floor who were in the second tier (Chairman). I've never seen this kind of restriction in a casino. Drink service was non- existant until 5:00pm, thereafter I was asked about service about every 30 minutes. Reportedly, the second tier of slot service comes with valet parking and a food discount from 15% to 25%. Food: Eventually there are to be twelve food choices. Right now there are five establishments within the casino with an additional steakhouse and buffet to be open by summer. There is a salad and sandwich place, a grill, a hearth baked pizza place, an Irish place, and on the second floor simulcast area a snack bar (with eventual full bar). I visited the salad/sandwich place (has bottled beer at $4 or $5 dollars) and the pizza joint which has draft beer for $4 on tap. Prices were about about average for pizzas but everything else was 30% to 70% higher than average. The snack bar upstairs had hot dogs for $3.75 and hamburgers for $4.75. I did not visit the downstairs grill or Irish establishments.