[Gonzopozo]

Casino Review – Century Casino in Central City
July 12, 2006

Another step down the long road to recovery for Main Street in Central City has been completed. At 5:55 PM last night, Century Casino opened for business. At the same time, the desperately needed indoor parking structure also opened. That was part of the deal – no garage, no casino. Management had advertised the opening for Monday, July 10, but I’ll tell you – with Gaming, Building Inspectors, and Fire Marshall’s all having absolute “veto” power over whether you open or not, it’s a minor miracle they got it opened a day late. And a dollar short.

Only 200 of the 600+ machines were up. Only one bar was open. Hotel rooms? Nope. Computer glitches at the slot club made for horribly long lines. There was a fair amount of disorganization everywhere – security, cashiers, food venues.

But open they were.

So, what’s it like? It’s BIG. 600+ machines require a lot of floor space. It’s NEW. They pretty much gutted the old Tollgate. All new walls and carpets. It’s 100% TITO – no coin buckets to be found.

I’m thinking I’ll just list out “pros and cons” – based on my first impressions of a 1/3 open facility. All the machines are slated to be up this Friday – the 14th. The GRAND opening is scheduled for Friday, July 21st. It won’t be until then that a true picture of Century can be gathered – and I’ll update this review after that.

Here’s what I liked: Food offerings, flat screens everywhere, Blackjack room, escalators, bars, indoor signage.

Here’s what I didn’t like: One cashier cage, poor plan for folks standing in line(s) at cashier and slot club, outdoor signage, no valet (at least not yet), art work (there isn’t any), ventilation. The lack of art work and décor leaves you with a “just another casino” feeling – not what they were going for, I’m sure.

So – let’s give them a few weeks and re-visit. My initial take is basically – not as impressed as I should have been.

G

[slammer99]

I'll agree with the not so impressed assessment, but for different reasons. There are a lot of machines turned off, including most of the video poker. The few video poker machines that were on had awful pay tables. There was a sign labeled "poker room", but the room was filled with machines. So, we wandered over to Scarlet's to kill a little time before the opera. Their VP machines at least have 8/6 on the bartop machines. Still not great, but the best I've seen in Central City, with the exception of a single machine at Fortune Valley.