Harrington expansion to open Thursday

Thursday, May 11, 2000 | 10:22 a.m.

The addition created about 190 new jobs at Midway, which now employs about 400 people.

Six new cashier windows and 400 slot machines have been added, bringing Midway's total number of slots to 1,151. Two restaurants - Midway Mike's Diner and the International Buffet - were also created.

The new Carousel Show-lounge, designed to look like a giant merry-go-round, will feature live daily entertainment and can be converted into an auditorium.

Midway also added a nine-bay bus terminal that is expected to help the casino handle about 100 buses per day, double its current capacity.

Midway's general manager, Michael S. Vautrin, said the expansion was prompted in part by additions at competing Dover Downs, which now has 2,000 slot machines and plans to build a 10-story hotel.

"We had to react to it somehow and, basically, this is how we reacted," Vautrin said.

The changes were suggested by 600 Midway patrons who participated in focus groups about two years ago.

"What we did is we took all of the things people asked for and gave it back to them," said Richard N. Jeffries, executive director of marketing and slots operations at Midway.

Dorothy Bowser of Crownsville, Md., is a regular at Midway, taking a bus there about once a month.

"I hope they add more nickel slots," Bower said.

Responded her friend, Aileen Johnson of Baltimore: "I hope they put in someplace where you can sit and rest when you run out of money."

Vautrin said Midway's existing casino space, which opened in 1996 with about 500 slot machines, will be renovated starting in June.