Last Friday night we headed over to Arundel Mills to check
out the new Maryland Live! casino. We were curious to see what the states
newest and largest slots parlor looked like inside.
It was dark, though that is fairly typical for a gaming
establishment. Casino operators like to separate their guests from the world
outside so windows are as rare as clocks. It hardly matters. The views from this casino in a parking garage wouldn't be that great anyway.
If you’ve ever been to Las Vegas or Atlantic City, the
sounds you hear upon entering the casino are very familiar, a cacophony of
bells and chimes from the sea of slot machines and other electronic table games.
What really struck me though were the patrons. There were a
large percentage of older, overweight people plopped down in front of slot
machines. The atmosphere may have sounded lively but most of the people we saw were
anything but. The absence of dealers and pit bosses further contributes to the indolent
atmosphere. This is a place where the machines are much livelier than the humans.
In an article by John Wagner in The Washington Post, Milton
Peterson, the developer of National Harbor in Prince
Georges County
I think that’s a little unfair. What Maryland Live! lacks in exterior design, it
makes up for inside. It’s not the nicest casino I’ve ever been in but it’s hardly
a barn.
Peterson’s derisive comment about “slots barns” should be
taken in context. If the guv is successful in expanding gambling in the state, National Harbor
That’s about $300 million more than the Cordish Company
claims they spent on Maryland Live!
We considered having dinner at one of the two restaurants in
the casino, Bobby Flays and the Cheesecake Factory. Bobby Flays is open to the
casino and all the attendant slot noise so we ruled that out. The Cheesecake
Factory was packed with a long wait just like every other Cheesecake Factory I’ve
ever visited.
We ended up going to the DuClaw Brewing Company with their great selection of
beers instead. It may not have been that much more lively but at least we didn’t have to
wait an hour or talk over a chorus of slot machines in the background.
...and the EuForia ale was so good, I had another.
...and the EuForia ale was so good, I had another.
