Ohio: Miami Valley Gaming racino unveils plans for a $100 M expansion

Miami Valley Gaming in Turtlecreek Township —Warren County, Ohio— has been open for nearly six years, and now its owners are looking to expand its facilities to host more customers.

The proposed $100-million expansion is expected to make the racino into a regional gaming center and draw people from Columbus and Indianapolis.

"We envisioned being able to grow into a hotel complex along with our gaming facility. So, that's where we are almost to the [opening] date," Domenic Mancini, President and General Manager at Miami Valley Gaming said, as reported by Local 12 WKRC-TV.

It is proposing adding a hotel, restaurant, more video gaming terminals, and a parking garage. The hotel will have 194 rooms, and the parking garage will have spaces for about 1,000 cars. "We've had numerous times that we were at capacity and were turning people away because they couldn't find a place to park," Mancini said.

It currently has more than 1,900 VLTs. The proposal adds as many as 250 more, bringing the total to about 2,200. It would add more than 10,000 square feet of gaming floor space.

The expansion still needs state and local approval, but, assuming it goes to plan, everything could be finished in about a year-and-a-half —by the first half of 2021. The project will create around 300 jobs during construction and approximately 100 permanent positions. Currently, there are more than 450 employees at the racino.

The racino already has four restaurants, two bars, a 5/8-mile harness racetrack with indoor grandstand and racing simulcast center.