Casino news source: Sun Herald - http://www.sunherald.com
Pete Fountain to return to Bay
Will play at Hollywood beginning mid-October
By TOM WILEMON
BAY ST. LOUIS - A Joan Rivers impersonator dished it up with gamblers at the front of the line for the Hollywood Casino opening, as people made up like Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Mae West waited to greet them Thursday morning.
The real star of the place didn't need any makeup. Pete Fountain sat at the bar with his wife, daughter and son-in-law. He looked great and was all smiles, saying he's coming back to the casino to play his clarinet. It's been a tough year for the jazz legend. He lost homes to Hurricane Katrina, underwent a quadruple bypass in March and has suffered a lingering bout with shingles throughout the summer.
"The bypass was a breather," said his wife, Beverly Fountain.
The pain from the skin infection has been constant for Mr. Fountain. But on this day, he said, "I don't even feel the shingles."
The first date will be in mid-October, he said. Fountain packed the Oak Royale room every Tuesday and Thursday before the storm, when the property was known as Casino Magic Bay St. Louis.
John Jagunich, the casino's general manager, said "everybody went wild" when Fountain's return was announced Wednesday night at the pre-opening party.
Hollywood Casino opened up to a good crowd made up mostly of established clientele. Tommie Sue Anderson of Lumberton said she was concerned the casino would be too different when she heard the name had changed.
"We got a letter from the casino and I really liked what it said," she said.
Jagunich, who was also the general manager of Casino Magic, invited her and her husband, Austin Anderson, back to the property. Penn National Gaming, the casino's parent company, rechristened the property as "Hollywood" to bring it in line with one of its brands. The "Magic" name was acquired when the company bought the Bay St. Louis property from Pinnacle Entertainment.
The casino has 20 table games, just over 900 slot machines and a six-table poker room. It is located temporarily on the ground floor of the casino's hotel. Penn National Gaming has plans to build a new casino. Its gambling barge was heavily damaged and will be dismantled.
Bay St. Louis Mayor Eddie Favre was on hand to greet the gamblers. The casino's opening is an important benchmark in the city's recovery, he said.
"It's not just the revenue that the city is going to see, but also the 1,000 people," he said. "It's going to put them back to work, so they can put their lives back together. It's just a great day." |
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