When the doors opened, patrons let out a big cheer and lines immediately began to form at eateries in the food-court area called The District. People who didn’t bolt for the casino floor meandered through the property’s public areas, stopping to admire the centerpiece conservatory and some of the resort’s more than 30 public art pieces, and to take selfies with their camera phones. Officials had initially promised to open the doors at 11 p.m., but instead let the growing crowd escape from near-freezing temperatures at about 10:30.
The state’s other five casinos are slot machine parlors or racinos attached to horse-racing tracks. National Harbor, located about 15 miles from the center of Washington D.C., is Maryland’s first integrated resort with table games. Most beelined for the casino where they found a floor with more than 3,000 slot machines and mostly $25 limit blackjack and roulette tables. Maryland’s new era of casino gaming got off to a rousing start Thursday as thousands of people jammed the $1.4 billion MGM National Harbor when the doors opened a half-hour ahead of schedule.īy midnight, security officers stopped letting people in at some entrances because of the crowd. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal) HILL, Md. The Potomac Plaza during opening night at MGM National Harbor hotel-casino in Oxon Hill, Md.
