Maryland Live! Casino To Hold Ground-breaking Next Week

The ground breaking ceremony for the $200 million hotel project of the Maryland Live! Casino is scheduled to take place next week.

Casino spokeswoman Carmen Gonzalez stated that the hotel property would be owned by the casino’s operating company, Cordish Cos and is likely to be completed by early 2018.

The Maryland Live! Casino located in Hanover is planning to build a 17-storey hotel with entertainment and dining facilities spread over the 350,000 square foot including a 3,000-seater event center.

In a statement, Cordish Cos said

The $200 million flagship property represents another significant step in the evolution of the Live! Brand and establishes Maryland Live! Casino as a destination that will offer visitors the opportunity to eat, play and stay in a first-class environment.

CBS Baltimore

James Karmel, the president and chief analyst of the casino consulting firm Gaming Atlantic said that the casino’s plans to build a hotel was confirmation that it planned to compete with the upcoming MGM National Harbor casino for resort traffic. The $1.3 billion MGM project is scheduled to open by the end of this year.

Maryland Live! has so far been the state’s largest casino but MGM National Harbor is expected to challenge its position and compete for the same belt of customers along the Washington, D.C and Baltimore corridor. Karmel believes that while MGM National Harbor might be in direct competition to Maryland Live! for its regional customers, it might attract more out-of- state customers.

He pointed out that there are several affluent areas in the southern states where there are no casinos and players from these locations will now be more open to visiting the MGM National Harbor or Maryland Live! as they will now be able to stay overnight. According to Kramel, Maryland Live! is likely to get around 10 percent of these overnight and day tripper customers.

Maryland Live’s expansion plan has also had the county’s school system deeply interested. The large convention center is seen as a convenient option for holding school graduation ceremonies and other events such as the Teacher of the Year ceremony. Kramel has stated that it might be months before gaming analysts can predict how the casino market responds to the opening of the MGM National Harbor casino and its impact on the revenues of the Maryland Live casino. The success of Maryland Live’s new hotel complex will also be determined only after a few months of it opening to the public.

Adrian Sterne

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