Hollywood Casino Columbus Plans 200-Room Hotel With $100M Expansion

Posted on: July 25, 2023, 01:38h. 

Last updated on: July 26, 2023, 10:04h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Hollywood Casino Columbus might soon add “resort” to its name. That’s after announcing this week a $100 million expansion of the property that will bring a 200-room hotel and new amenities to the destination.

Hollywood Casino Columbus hotel resort
Hollywood Casino Columbus is almost ready to break ground on its long-awaited hotel. Penn Entertainment and Gaming and Leisure Properties say the 200-room hotel will feature resort-style amenities and cost about $100 million to bring to reality. (Image: Hollywood Casino Columbus)

Hollywood Columbus opened in 2012, about four years after Ohio voters authorized casino gambling through a state constitutional referendum. The gaming ballot measure allowed land-based casinos with slots and table games in the state’s four largest cities: Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Toledo.

Penn Entertainment, at the time Penn National Gaming, was one of the gaming operators that gained licensure to run a brick-and-mortar casino in the Buckeye State. Penn opened Hollywood Casino Columbus on Oct. 8, 2012.

The casino is owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc., which is Penn Entertainment’s publicly traded real estate investment trust. Penn Entertainment leases Hollywood Columbus’ casino operations from GLPI.

$100M Expansion

Penn Entertainment and GLPI have floated the idea of adding a hotel to Hollywood Casino Columbus for many years. But the companies only this week reached a contract with the Columbus Building and Construction Trades Council, which provides coordination, representation, and support to the work of the council’s 19 affiliated unions in the Columbus region.

GLPI will bankroll the majority of the $100 million project that will result in a 150,000-square-foot hotel spread across seven floors. The hotel will be built adjacent to the current casino and provide overnight guests with easy access to their rooms.

The hotel will additionally feature food and beverage options, conference space for small meetings and events, a fitness center, and an outdoor terrace.

We are thrilled to introduce new amenities and a fabulous place for our players to stay. This will enable us to offer a full conference and banquet package, attracting both existing clients and new businesses to central Ohio and the [Columbus] West Side with our conference and meeting space abilities,” said Rick Skinner, vice president and general manager of Hollywood Casino Columbus.

Construction is slated to begin this fall. Casino reps didn’t specify a time line for completion.

Integrated Resorts

Once complete, Hollywood Casino Columbus will be billed as the first integrated resort casino in Ohio.

The state’s three other full-scale casinos, Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati, Jack Cleveland Casino, and Hollywood Casino Toledo, don’t currently offer on-site hotels. They have instead partnered with nearby hotels to provide their guests and rewards members with accommodations.

Hollywood Columbus is the largest gaming floor of the four brick-and-mortar casinos. The casino offers more than 1,900 slots, 65 live dealer table games, and a 34-table poker room.

The property began taking in-person sports bets in January through self-service kiosks, and added a 13,000-square-foot Barstool Sportsbook in January. Jan. 1, 2023, marked the launch of  retail and online sports betting in Ohio. Through May, oddsmakers statewide have won more than $507 million off bettors.