I've been to three different Hollywood Casinos: this one, the one in Maryland, and the one in Pennsylvania. None of them are high class operations.
The slots are horrible. The video poker slightly better. The table limits are ridiculously high. This is West Virginia, not a state that I would consider wealthy and table minimums are $25 with some having $100 minimums on the main floor (I'd hate to see the high limit room). The players club is worthless. And why each of their casinos have to have their own players card which is identical, I'll never figure out. The buffet is overpriced and bad.
Definitely not a place I would make a special trip to.
My wife and I have gone to CT to play slots ever since it was a tent next to the racetrack. It used to be a fun, sometimes win, sometimes lose place to go that is close to home. Ever since they got the okay to add table games, the place went to crap at the slots. Now it is a great place to go if you want to donate your money to them. I have gone dozens of times in the last two years when you would not hear any slot bells or even see a jackpot or hand pay going on with their 5,000 slots for 4-6+ hours. When you do see a machine paying out, it is usually at the lower end of the payout scale. Also, the players club gives very little reward for the dollars you spent there. If you lose a thousand bucks, you might get a free drink.
The people that work there are great and I will surely miss them. I have filled out the papers that excludes me from being able to play there for at least a year. By doing that I cannot be tempted to go there when the urge to play strikes. I would rather travel 2 hours and go someplace that is not owned and managed by Penn National.
If they don't change their ways after my year of exclusion, I will make it permanent.
Wow, such a missed opportunity. I was shocked to find high table minimums ($50 BJ at 3pm on a tuesday) and few tables open despite people needing to wait to get a seat. Worst was the dominance of smoke throughout this casino. I felt like I was in a casino from the 60's. It is very poorly ventilated and the smoke just hangs. That they allow cigars makes it intolerable for many. They have a non smoking area, but when I was there, only 1 bj table was open in that area.
The only plus was that the dealers were friendly and efficient.
My wife & I went to Charles Town last night and won for the first time in about six months. We go on the average of 2-3 times a week. Yes we have a problem. When I say that we won, I mean we came out with more than we came in with. About $1,000 more. No jackpots just adding tickets up. A first in a long long time.
We usually win what we bring or close to it & play it back & lose it because we are only there for a hour or two after we go there with what we brought. We take $400-$600. I don't play that much anymore just watch my wife play. We lose too much. It was almost like it was in the good old days of Charles Town. Not putting $20 in and leaving the machine in less than a minute.
I would say about 30-40% of the machines that we played let us play. A guy next to us playing said that he noticed the payouts were better too that night & said it was probably because it was the end of the month & CT had to catch up on the payouts for the month. Don't know why it was but hope it stays like that but I doubt it.
We've been going to CT since 2001 & have been noticing the change & not to the good. Have to say the Player's Choice program is a joke. You get 2 points for every $20 you play. 285 points equals $5. Add it up. You have to spend a lot to get anything. It was o.k. when the machines let you play. But when they don't, it's your $ building up the points, not theirs.
They used to send us $20 coupons for food. It's now to $10 & we play the same as we did before. Have not stayed at the Hotel so can't comment on that, but it looks nice, not great, from the outside.
They also have way too many giveaways. Cars, $10,000. Keep the slots a little loose and stop those. The kiosk is a joke who cares about 5 free entries for giveaways. The free slot play is also a joke. For what we spend we should get a lot more than $30 every 2 weeks!
