The 0 million Hollywood Casino being built by Penn National Gaming for the Jamul Indian Village of San Diego County, California is aiming at a July 2016 opening. The tribe broke ground on the casino in January 2014.
The three-story casino will have more than 1,700 slot machines, 50 gaming tables, dining, bars and a 1,900-space parking lot. It will not have a hotel. Of all of the many casinos in San Diego County, this Indian casino will be closest to the San Diego itself, about 20 miles.
Moody’s Investor Service expects that Penn will be doing well financially from the project, raking in up to $30 million annually. Last week Moody’s wrote: “Positive rating considerations include Jamul’s close proximity to San Diego, California. Jamul will be the closest casino to San Diego, a large, heavy populated metropolitan area. The project will also benefit from the expertise of Penn, the manager and developer of the project, who currently operates 27 facilities throughout the US.” Penn has borne about half of the costs of building the casino. It will also manage the facility as a branded “Hollywood” casino under a seven-year contract.
Moody’s have given a B3 rating to the casino’s $460 million debt. It notes that the casino will have eight competitors in the county.
Penn National CEO Tim Wilmot said in an interview that the San Diego casino will be used to market to Penn’s other properties: the M Resort and the Tropicana, where Penn is spending $200 million to upgrade. Penn maintains a 3-million player rewards system database.
