NITRO, W.Va. — Bigger, better and brighter is how President and General Manager of Mardi Gras Casino Eric Althaus described the new facility.
Officials from the casino and all over the Kanawha Valley gathered there on Thursday for a ribbon-cutting event to the 18-month remodel that wrapped up this past week.
“A lot of work has been put into this renovation,” Althaus told MetroNews. “Now we can market out that the major renovation is done. You can come in and not have to worry about the sound or dislocation of slot machines, you can actually come in and take advantage of every amenity that we have.”
The inside of the building was, in fact, brighter as a new lighting system was a key addition. Improvements of note were the removal of the ceiling grid to add to the square footage of the building, new carpets, slot bases, machines, and chairs throughout the entire property.
The popular café grill doubled in size during the renovation and now has its line on the right side of the restaurant avoiding the front doors and ATM.
The entrance through those front doors has changed as there is no longer a wall with a bar on the other side. Althaus said the move to knock that bar down and add small service bars will add to the guest experience with a more open floor plan and better sightline.
The 34-year old facility had 850 slots gaming slots before the remodel, and got down to around half of that during the construction.
Althaus said while the casino currently has 844 slots, the classics are back and new games have been added with more plans in the future for game expansion.
“We can go up to as much as 1,000 with the floor plan that we have right now,” he said. “As we get the occupancy back and come back to the property, they will see slots back that they loved to play. It may not be in the old location as it was, as the entire gaming floor changed, but we have all those same themes along with new themes.”
In addition to the new slots, new table games have been added along with a new players club, promotional stage, and a high limit room.
Althaus hinted at more plans to expand in the future, starting with a makeover of the Louie’s Lounge entertainment area in 2020.