Review of Hollywood Casino Toledo Reviewed October 19, 2012 If you can stand a minimum bet of $15 at Roulette, Craps and Blackjack, then this may be an enjoyable place to play. Blackjack The object is for you to draw cards that total 21 or come closer to 21 than the Dealer. All cards are at face value, except the King, Queen, and Jack, which count as 10. Is hollywood casino toledo open on christmas Apply – To receive the welcome bonus a minimum deposit of £/€/$ 10 is required. The minimum deposit for other offers that require a deposit will be clearly communicated. Maximum bonus offered will be communicated in the details of each specific promo. Jun 04, 2012 118 reviews of Hollywood Casino Toledo 'Really terrific staff, beautiful building and the steak house was out of this world. Pay for the $5 valet parking and avoid the parking garage. Toledo is lucky to have it's first casino be so high quality.
I were a straight BJ player, no counting, I would choose there over Detroit just to avoid the smoke. (Rules are the same for low-limits.)
When they first opened I got a mispay in my favor every time I went. That was about three or four times. I'm sure they are much sharper now. Nice place. If I were a straight BJ player, no counting, I would choose there over Detroit just to avoid the smoke. (Rules are the same for low-limits.)
I normally reserve reports like these to my blog, but Hollywood Casino- Toledo (HCT) opened up last Monday to relatively less fanfare, since Horseshoe Cleveland was the first (and more prominent) and Scioto Downs covered the Central Ohio market pretty well. Scioto Downs is only slots and VP, so I'll get down there eventually, but I guess the crowds are still ridiculous. HCT is also close enough to the Michigan markets where gambling has been present for years.
On a whim, I decided to drive up last night and check it out. Toledo is about 2 hours from where I live, and the drive is surprisingly easy, despite it being highway most of the way. The casino is located RIGHT OFF I-75; I kid you not, it'snmaybe a 100 yards off the interstate. I'm not sure I've ever seen a Midwest casino that close before. My GPS doesn't recognize the place yet, so I was worried about getting there on the last leg of the route.. just take exit 199 off I-75 and you truly can't miss it..
The parking garage is towards the back, and there are blocked roads that are a bit confusing at first going into the property. I think this is not a great idea, since it could lead to a backup on a main road, which in turn, could cause congestion on the interstate. At 11:30 pm on Thursday evening, this wasn't going to be an issue. There are two entrances, one from the parking garage and the other from valet towards the front.
If you haven't been to a Hollywood Casino, let me say the theme is nothing short of impressive, even by Vegas standards. There is a TON to look at, and walking around the casino will be a pleasure, with all the ads and colors and sights. If you come through the parking garage entrance, the huge wave screen will probably overwhelm you the first time you see it..
And that's part of the problem. Hollywood Casino uses a cookie-cutter model for all of its casinos, so if you've been in one of the updated ones (Lawrenceburg, the PA one, Joliet, and I assume KC), they are basically all the same. To me, I like walking around and discovering what makes a casino unique; here, I just look for which design elements they put where. I didn't see the big hanging balls (IF YOU'VE BEEN, YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT); otherwise, the wave screen, the gaudy red carpet, the large stone pillars.. it's all there.
The layout reminds me a bit of a spread-out River City casino in St Louis. The middle has a bar area and a lounge that serves food called Scene (which is the first time I've seen that at a Hollywood). Both entrances will feature table games near there, though the valet entrance is an overflow pit. On both sides of the bar that separates the areas there are slot machines. The poker room is near the valet entrance. All VP is concentrated in an area near the poker room. Two Smoking areas (since Ohio is smoke-free) take you to an outside area that is still connected to the casino. The High Limit room is in the back corner, not too far from the combined cashier/player's club sign-ups. For now, they do have a separate sign up area, though it wasn't open when I got there before midnight. Food options are in the opposite back corner, all in a row, including the 24-hour grill (Take 2), Epic Buffet and Final Cut Steakhouse. Yep, it's a Hollywood Casino..
Table games offered include BJ*, Roulette (0,00), Craps (3-4-5x odds, Fire bet, forgot field, but assume it's double on 12), Mini-Baccarat on tall tables, Pai Gow Poker**, Ultimate Texas Hold Em***, Mississippi Stud, Let It Ride, Crazy 4, TCP w/ Progressive (40-30-6-3-1) and a Big 6 Wheel.
*BJ- I didn't play and forgot to ask specific rules.. however, when I got there, the table wording looked like it was S17. Then I actually read it, and it says 'Dealer must draw to 16 and soft 17 and stand on hard 17s' I think this is VERY deceptive; it might be how they word it up in MI, so I can't get too mad. I know AC does the same type of wording too.
**PGP- This is what I played that evening. However, I MUST post their bonus payout, since I think it is officially the STRANGEST paytable I've ever seen for Fortune.
7-card SF NJ- 5000:1, Envy $2500
RF + RM- 1000:1, Envy $500
7-card SF w/J- 500:1, Envy $250
5 Aces- 300:1, Envy $150
Royal- 110:1, Envy $55
Straight Flush- 45:1, Envy $25
Quads- 25:1 Envy $6
The rest is all standard 5,4,3,2 no two pair bonus.
Even though the dealer was new, she agreed that a 110:1 payout and 45:1 payout didn't make any sense. The Envy bonuses are a bit more generous than I've seen especially for the more frequent. I didn't see a max aggregate, but there was one on Crazy 4 so there has to be one for PGP.
***UTH- I like this game, but they put the crappy 20-7-6-5-3 paytable on the trips. If MGM still offers the nicer paytable (30-9-7-4-3), head up an hour north and risk your life for it..
Table minimums were high, but not insane like at Horseshoe ($15 for most games, including PGP, which to me is low). Also do not get the $500 chips unless you want to be scrutinized. The pit supervisor said it takes about 20 minutes to verify that amount on the cameras, so just ask for $100 chips, and you'll be okay.
I won't even mention Video Poker, because you'd be better off playing slots. I check for two games, BP and JoB. The BEST JoB I saw was 8-5 and that was at the $2 level. At .25, you get 6-5. No thanks! Poker room rake is 10% to $6 which is too high, but that's where Detroit has been for years, so I get that, I guess.. It was mostly 1-2 with 200 max being played.
They are currently doing a match card level promotion, so I'm already a Celebrity (2nd tier) with them. I got my card after I played, since the line was ridiculous when I got there. I took my card to the pit, where Gary the supervisor gave me full credit for my 2 hours of play..
Which leads me to the service, which was surprisingly good! I say surprisingly, since Hollywood's are becoming notorious for awful service. Our main PGP dealer Amy was great, though she forgot to thank me for tipping. Her relief was excellent, fast and did thank me. He was also very knowledgeable so if you're on here, good work! The last dealer before I left was very slow and not sure exactly what she was doing. This is to be expected in a new casino. I laughed when other players were barking that they couldn't bank; do you think some of these dealers could handle that on TOP of everything else?? I don't think so..
In comparison to Horseshoe Cleveland, Horseshoe has MUCH better games all around. The layout of Hollywood is 1000x better though, as it's much more spacious and not crammed into an old department store. The parking is obviously better and the smoking areas were much better planned. Food options are also not an issue at Hollywood. Service right now is a draw between the two properties, but rest assured, Penn will screw that up after a while, so I'll give the slight edge to Horseshoe.
OVERALL, despite my spite towards Penn National, I have to say they did a decent job in Toledo. Time will tell if Toledo can truly support a full-scale casino after they are up and running all over in Ohio. My guess is that it will be a no, and when Penn makes it their own, the service will go downhill fast. That could be enough to send the border people up to Detroit again. Maybe.
Last time I was at Hollywood Toledo I sat down at a $10 BJ table and my first hand was a blackjack.
The dealer paid me $12.
I told the dealer I didn't realize it was a 6:5 table and immediately colored up.
He told me that the $10 tables are 6:5 and the $15 tables are 3:2. Prior to that they had never had 6:5 tables.
I did not see this anywhere. I saw many $10 blackjack get $15. Possible they tried it and it didn't last. Greektown did have some 6:5 at one time then scrapped it. I will definitely look and ask next time.
Hopefully it was a failed experiment.