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Staff photo by Greg Lynch Hollywood Casino Lawrenceburg is the largest riverboat casino in the United States.

Area gamblers make up about 14 percent of business at the new Hollywood Casino.

By William Hershey, Staff Writer Updated 11:32 AM Tuesday, September 22, 2009

LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. — Kim Feierstein has gambled in Reno. He’s played the slots in Las Vegas.

But there’s no place he’d rather test his luck than at the glittery, $335 million Hollywood Casino along the Ohio River near Cincinnati.

“This is my first time here and I think it’s great,” said Feierstein, 50, of Celina, who lost his job in retail 20 months ago and carefully budgets for the occasional casino outing.

The Hollywood is the favorite of Indiana’s 13 casinos for Dayton-area gamblers who provide about 14 percent of its business. The 270,000-square-foot riverboat opened on June 25, replacing the 13-year-old Argosy, docked nearby and up for sale.

Unlike Ohio, Indiana has embraced casino gambling for more than a decade. It’s a $2.8 billion industry and last year provided about $876 million in casino taxes to the state and local communities.

The Hollywood — with 3,200 slots and electronic table games, 41 live poker tables and a 30-foot dome that provides a video wall — is partly a pre-emptive strike against anticipated competition from neighboring Ohio and Kentucky.

“From a long-term perspective, we know it’s just a matter of time before Ohio and, or Kentucky have gaming,” said Tony Rodio, the general manager. “And we hope that the experience we’ve created here will allow us to hold on (to market share).”

The Hollywood owner, Penn National Gaming of Wyomissing, Pa., is one of two backers behind the Nov. 3 Ohio ballot proposal to allow casinos in Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo and Cleveland.

Because the Hollywood and its football field-sized decks is little more than an hour’s drive from Dayton, players like Robert Barton, 74, and his wife Mary, 67, of Englewood may continue to go there no matter what happens on Nov. 3.

But despite the glitz of Penn National’s new casino, Mary Barton preferred the mothballed Argosy.

“They let you win more,” she said.

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