Toledo —The billboards for Hollywood Casino Toledo on Interstate 75 start around Monroe near the Michigan-Ohio border and simply state "Exit 199, Spring 2012."
Spring is about as exact as the new $300 million, east Toledo casino can get to stating its opening date because Ohio gaming officials have yet to give final permission for when the 125,000 square feet of gaming floor can begin operations. Same thing goes for the $350 million Horseshoe Casino Cleveland, a joint venture between Quicken Loans Inc. founder Dan Gilbert and gaming giant Caesars Entertainment Corp.
Both are facing weeks of delay to their opening dates that were expected to be in late March and early April. Such is the price for two groundbreaking casinos in a state that is finally getting legal casinos.
Hollywood Casino's construction will be completed by mid-March, the gaming hall's officials said Friday as they conducted a tour of the facility for media members from three states.
The last-minute haggle with state regulators is a little less clear. The state commission says that some backers who own a small portion of the casino along with the majority owner, Penn National Gaming Inc., have not submitted background information for board members.
"As soon as we have that date, that will be the next big announcement," Richard St. Jean, Hollywood Casino Toledo's general manager, said Friday during the press preview.
The new casino is just south of downtown in east Toledo next to the Maumee River and the Plinkington Glass plant in Rossford. From the big windows in the planned steakhouse in the casino, patrons see freeway traffic, the Maumee, big grain elevators and downtown Toledo.
The Hollywood aims for a 2.8 million annual attendance, officials said.
"Most of our target places are really geared to a 60-mile radius," said Mike Galle, the casino's vice president and assistant general manager.
If you take I-75, that 60-mile radius stretches roughly to the downtown Detroit entrances of the MGM Grand Detroit and MotorCity Casino.
"They will get cleared. It's no small thing what the state is asking, but they will open," said Jake Miklojcik, president of Lansing-based Michigan Consultants, who follows the gaming industry.
Whenever they open, it's game on between northwest Ohio and Detroit's three casino-hotels, which generate about $1.5 billion in annual revenue.
"For Detroit casinos, the challenge is not simply Ohio residents; it includes Monroe County, even southern Wayne, even some parts of Washtenaw — the drive times are comparable. This does not mean that Detroit losses massive market share, but there is a challenge," Miklojcik said.
Several gaming analysts project the Cleveland and Toledo casinos might take up to 5 percent of annual revenue from the Detroit casinos.
"There is some draw from northwest Ohio that gets up to the Detroit market," Galle said. "Of course, there is a little bit of cut-off here with our casino, positioned where it is."
Officials for Greektown, MGM Grand and MotorCity have declined to comment on how the northwest Ohio openings will affect business.
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