Mt. Airy Casino, Poconos, PA - partial review

I say "Partial" review because I really didn't intend on making a review, so I didn't really investigate and make notes. Nor did I take any photos. For what it's worth, I'm gonna compare it to the Sands Bethlahem. I've been to the Sands four times since table games opened. Today was the first trip to Mt Airy since tables games began.

The first problem was getting there. Coming along Route 80 from NJ, we noticed a total of ONE billboard. It specified that Mt Airy was "20 minutes away." It did NOT specify an exit number. About 10 miles later, I see one of those blue signs that shows multiple attractions at the next exit. Mt Airy was on the sign. If I didn't notice that, we would have passed the exit. 4 miles after taking the exit, is the turn to the road the casino is on. There is a billboard before the turn advertising the casino, but doesn't indicate a turn. There is another billboard past the turn stating "Turn Right", but it's behind several traffic light poles, making it hard to notice. Fortunately, we saw it. My brother was driving. He prefers to valet, saw a sign for it, but it was confusing to the point where we drove past the valet into the parking lot. There were about 100 cars, spread out in the lot at 9:15am, so it was easy to find a spot close to the door.

For those that have been there in the past, but not since they got table games, they merely removed a bunch of slots in the middle of the relatively small room, and put in a pit of tables. There was a side alcove that used to have TableMaster games. Those games were removed. That's where the poker room is.

We take a short tour. There's several BJ tables open, $10, $25 and $50 minimums. Dealer stands on all 17s. Several other tables including Pai Gow Poker and Three Card Poker. I wasn't really paying attention to those minimums or any other tables. In fact, considering my interest in Roulette, you'd think I would at least count the number of Roulette tables. I'm sure they had some, or at least one, but I didn't look or notice. They have three craps tables, and one was open for $10.

I decided to check out the poker room. Three of the 11 poker tables were running games. Two $1/$2 tables that were almost full, plus a $2/$5 table. When I stopped to check them, the $2/$5 had a pot of about $600 on the turn, one guy bet about $400, and the other guy went all in for about $900. After a minute or so, the other guy folded, so I have no idea what the hand was.

Since I had never seen table games for less than $15 at the Sands, and that it was apparent that I didn't need to worry about a poker seat, I decided to play craps for a bit while it was still $10. In about 20 minutes, I lost about $75, so I left. I have no idea what the Field pays, but I did notice that the junk prop bets were 15 to 1 and 30 to 1.

So I went to the poker room. I was told there is a $1/$2 seat open for me, but I should go to the dice table to get chips. Like the Sands, they don't want buy-ins at the table. Unlike the Sands, you CAN re-buy at the table. In that respect, they run a lot like Vegas. If you re-buy, the cash stays in the rack. Occasionally the floor person will take the cash and replace it with chips so the rack always has $1,000. The rake, which is a $5 max, goes into a trap-door type drop slot. There is also a Bad Beat, which is taken out when the pot is only $10. Tips are SHARED in this poker room.

The dealers are new, and don't always follow correct procedure. In one hand, after the showdown, the dealer turned the winning hand face down, put them into the muck, but correctly pushed the chips to the winner. In another hand, with only two players, one player bet $16. The other player put out six reds. The dealer was about to allow the player to put in the extra $2 to complete the raise, but the floor was called. Since the player did not say raise, it was less than a raise, therefore only a call. For what it's worth, I saw an identical $16/$30 situation at the Taj about a year ago, and that too was ruled a call.

After a few hours, we went to lunch. They have a 30 minute limit for being away from the table. I asked the floor person what I can do. I wanted to take off the chips to allow another player to sit, and then be put at the top of the list when I come back. He said to just leave the chips on the table. If I'm not back in 30 minutes, they'd bag my chips and put me in at a new table he was going to open around then. I told him that I'd probably be more than 30 minutes. Just leave the chips. So I apologized to the other players and left the chips.

We ate at the buffet. It was $15.95, but we got $2 off, simply because we had player's cards. I don't recall all the choices, but I do recall thinking that they had nearly twice the choices as the buffet at Imperial Palace, and the quality was marginally better. That's not saying much.

When I returned to poker about 65 minutes later, my chips were still in the same spot. As it happens, I just missed the big blind, so I then asked the floor person if I can buy the button. Nope. They don't do that. But he also said that the new table is opening now, I could move. So after needlessly locking up the seat for over an hour, I moved to the new table. In less than 5 minutes we had 8 people. It wasn't long after that, that we had a full table.

A few hours later, it was 5:00pm - time to go home. I lost another $128. Whatever. As I was heading to the cage, I noticed that all three craps tables were open. Two were nearly full, one had only three players. All were $10 tables.

On the ride home, we talked about the place. At times the BJ and craps tables had increased to $15, but dropped back down. The bar-top machines were 25¢ and played multiple games, including a variety of poker games. Playing those games DOES earn you free drinks.

All in all, we left rather unimpressed with the entire place.

The next time I go to PA, I'll probably go back to the Sands.



Good thing this was only a partial review.

I remembered a few additional details:

1 - My Airy does not have a parking garage. The lot is rather large, with theme park style shuttles running around. (Sands has a garage.) On a nippy day like today, close parking and some relief from the weather that a garage can provide, is a welcome feature. Fortunately, the place was dead when we arrived, so we got a close spot.

2 - Only about half of the poker tables had shuffle machines.

3 - All four of the restrooms I visited had two urinals, two stalls and three sinks. In three, the sink water was cold. Not cool, but COLD. One (in the buffet), had warm water. Three had a SINGLE paper dispenser, one had two dispensers. However, the one nice thing was that the paper dispensers were motion sensor types, but they disabled the sensor or something. As soon as you tore off the paper, it would feed another 12"-14".

Quote: DJTeddyBear

I remembered a few additional details:

1 - My Airy does not have a parking garage.

I tend to avoid casinos that are too cheap to build a parking garage. They usually skimp on everything else to, and sweat every dollar thats laid on a table. There's a casino north of here that has no garage. They have 2 roulette tables, both with a $1 min and 50 cent chips. You can never get near them, they're packed with dollar players. They also have no tote boards so you have no idea what was spun last. Cheap cheap cheap..

My wife and I stopped by there a couple of months ago - For a Mohegan Sun property it is very tacky. While I was there the craps table was $5 with 3-4-5 odds. The dealers were still getting used to the game and it was slow. Most of the rail birds were straight nickle players with minimum place bets. Many of them appeared to be getting used to the game too.

The VP is the typical crap that is being offered everywhere these days - 6-5 bonus and nothing special in deuces. Slots predominate which is all that the states really want to put in - wonder why?

I will testify to the fact that it was very difficult to find. I had printed instructions from the casino site, printed instructions from the hotel where we were staying that night (20 minutes away) and my GPS and still drove around for about 45 minutes until we just kind of stumbled over it.

I used valet parking and that was OK - quick in - quick out. Some of the personnel at the tables were already getting the "attitude" that so many dealers get after enduring face to face relations with the public for awhile. A couple of them clearly had their heads up and locked and others appeared as if they would rather be anywhere but there. You would think in a business where a large part of your livelihood depends on tips you would be a bit more "involved."

They've made us a couple of offers since our trip but we will probably pass. I just didn't like the joint.

>I tend to avoid casinos that are too cheap to "xxxxxxxxxxx". They usually skimp on everything else too,
>and sweat every dollar .. Cheap cheap cheap.
Yes. It doesn't matter too much what the first thing that you notice is. Once you notice something that gives you the impression of "Cheap"... there will be other things that become glaringly obvious.

No annunciator at the roulette wheel... heck we all know its no determinant of what that next spin is, but it does bespeak a certain attitude. Its like a golf course telling you to bring your own golf pencils. And no one really likes a sweat the money joint. They may play there, but they don't really like it. Players don't always want luxury or splendor but they do want a festive, friendly atmosphere and some minimal attention to the player rather than just the player's bankroll. Casinos that are cheap or sweat the money joints had better be monopolies, else they won't really keep their players there for long.

Quote: Martin

My wife and I stopped by there a couple of months ago - For a Mohegan Sun property it is very tacky.

I don't know if you're talking about a different casino, or are simply confused.

Mt. Airy is in Mount Pocono, and is NOT part of the Mohegan Sun organization.
Pocono Downs, a casino in Wilkes-Barre, about 40 miles west of Mt. Airy, IS a Mohegan Sun Property.

This map came from http://www.pgcb.state.pa.us/?p=180, a page on the PA Gaming Control Board site.

Quote: FleaStiff

No annunciator at the roulette wheel...

Hmmm.... Maybe that's why I didn't notice any Roulette tables at Mt. Airy.

FYI: The Sands DOES have the Roulette history displays. I'm fairly certain they have them at the Baccarat tables too.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

I don't know if you're talking about a different casino, or are simply confused.

Mt. Airy is in Mount Pocono, and is NOT part of the Mohegan Sun organization.
Pocono Downs, a casino in Wilkes-Barre, about 40 miles west of Mt. Airy, IS a Mohegan Sun Property.

Hmmm....

Based upon the descriptions of Mohegan Sun Pocono downs in the Luck Be A Lady article referenced in the Nicely written article about a local BJ dealer thread, I have to assume you were confused and were talking about Mt Airy.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

I don't know if you're talking about a different casino, or are simply confused.

Mt. Airy is in Mount Pocono, and is NOT part of the Mohegan Sun organization.
Pocono Downs, a casino in Wilkes-Barre, about 40 miles west of Mt. Airy, IS a Mohegan Sun Property.

This map came from http://www.pgcb.state.pa.us/?p=180, a page on the PA Gaming Control Board site.

Yes - I knew the moment I hit post that I had the wrong place - Mohegan Sun was the casino we went to and regardless of one of their dealers getting some good press my comments regarding the place still hold. I didn't say 'all of the dealers' I said 'some of.'

Quote: Martin

My wife and I stopped by there a couple of months ago - For a Mohegan Sun property it is very tacky. While I was there the craps table was $5 with 3-4-5 odds. The dealers were still getting used to the game and it was slow. Most of the rail birds were straight nickle players with minimum place bets. Many of them appeared to be getting used to the game too.

The VP is the typical crap that is being offered everywhere these days - 6-5 bonus and nothing special in deuces. Slots predominate which is all that the states really want to put in - wonder why?

I will testify to the fact that it was very difficult to find. I had printed instructions from the casino site, printed instructions from the hotel where we were staying that night (20 minutes away) and my GPS and still drove around for about 45 minutes until we just kind of stumbled over it.

I used valet parking and that was OK - quick in - quick out. Some of the personnel at the tables were already getting the "attitude" that so many dealers get after enduring face to face relations with the public for awhile. A couple of them clearly had their heads up and locked and others appeared as if they would rather be anywhere but there. You would think in a business where a large part of your livelihood depends on tips you would be a bit more "involved."

They've made us a couple of offers since our trip but we will probably pass. I just didn't like the joint.

Mohegan's our home joint. They've settled on a "high stakes bingo parlor" atmosphere that fits the community; if they were high class, none of the locals would go, and the place isn't close enough to anything else to draw the vacationers and what you Vegas people would call the Strip crowd. We play there a couple times a month; any dealer attitude you experienced (I've gotten it once or twice) is transient; the general attitude is very informal, much less than AC. I had a long phone conversation with a gaming manager about this, it is intentional. Their slots have switched from what I call "blanks or jackpots" to a long grind type, where you can sit for a long time on $100. I'd have to agree with you, as a destination it isn't so great. But if you're going to stick a casino in a depressed community and suck $100,000,000 a year out, this is what it's going to have to look like to survive.

Mt Airy... hell, I live here and still miss it every time.

Quote: Mosca

Mohegan's our home joint. They've settled on a "high stakes bingo parlor" atmosphere that fits the community; if they were high class, none of the locals would go, and the place isn't close enough to anything else to draw the vacationers and what you Vegas people would call the Strip crowd. We play there a couple times a month; any dealer attitude you experienced (I've gotten it once or twice) is transient; the general attitude is very informal, much less than AC. I had a long phone conversation with a gaming manager about this, it is intentional. Their slots have switched from what I call "blanks or jackpots" to a long grind type, where you can sit for a long time on $100. I'd have to agree with you, as a destination it isn't so great. But if you're going to stick a casino in a depressed community and suck $100,000,000 a year out, this is what it's going to have to look like to survive.

Mt Airy... hell, I live here and still miss it every time.

I had my expectations set by the MS in Connecticut. It's a shame.

Quote: Mosca

Mt Airy... hell, I live here and still miss it every time.

I should point out that Sands is also a little tricky, but far better than Mt. Airy. While there are several billboards, with the exit number indicated, once you get off the highway, those last two miles don't have enough signs.Sometimes you have to also keep your eye out for a trailblazer sign for Emeril's Chop House (the gourmet restaurant in Sands.)

On the other hand, if you simply make the correct turn at the end of the exit, and more or less follow your nose, you'll go right there.

Quote: Martin

I had my expectations set by the MS in Connecticut. It's a shame.

Are you basing your opinion on what Mohegan Sun CT was like when it first opened, or what it is today?

I suspect the latter. Think about the former: there was only one casino, no hotel, no gourmet restaurants, and no retail space. Then the comparisons are similar.

Does that mean that MS PA (and other PA casinos) will grow in time, once the cash starts flowing?

WILL the cash start flowing?

And if the cash DOES start flowing, do they even have the acreage to grow?


Time will tell....

Quote: DJTeddyBear

I should point out that Sands is also a little tricky, but far better than Mt. Airy. While there are several billboards, with the exit number indicated, once you get off the highway, those last two miles don't have enough signs.Sometimes you have to also keep your eye out for a trailblazer sign for Emeril's Chop House (the gourmet restaurant in Sands.)

On the other hand, if you simply make the correct turn at the end of the exit, and more or less follow your nose, you'll go right there.



Are you basing your opinion on what Mohegan Sun CT was like when it first opened, or what it is today?

I suspect the latter. Think about the former: there was only one casino, no hotel, no gourmet restaurants, and no retail space. Then the comparisons are similar.

Does that mean that MS PA (and other PA casinos) will grow in time, once the cash starts flowing?

WILL the cash start flowing?

And if the cash DOES start flowing, do they even have the acreage to grow?


Time will tell....

A joint is a joint - whether it is a multi-billion dollar place on the strip or locals casino in the heart of the Pocono's (a magnificent place to visit by the way - even if you don't do a casino by all means visit - you won't regret it).

I guess we should be happy if we find a fair game, a level table and a pair of square dice.

Quote: FleaStiff

>Casinos that are cheap or sweat the money joints had better be monopolies, else they won't really keep their players there for long.

They usually are the only casino for 100 miles in any direction. They're like corner bars, everybody knows everybody else. The dealers are related to half the players and its all on a first name basis. If you're a stranger, good luck getting any good service, they know they'll never see you again.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

...Like the Sands, they don't want buy-ins at the table. Unlike the Sands, you CAN re-buy at the table. In that respect, they run a lot like Vegas. If you re-buy, the cash stays in the rack. Occasionally the floor person will take the cash and replace it with chips so the rack always has $1,000.

I was at the Sands yesterday. They now do it this way too.

Maybe it was a PA regulation, and it got changed....

Hello PA gamblers...

On 2/21 (President's Day) I may have the opportunity to go to Mt Airy (no option for any other PA casino, as Mt Airy is "on my way" that day.)

A few questions to those who might now:

* What are the chances of <$25 min blackjack tables? And $10 or less craps tables?
* What are the carnival game minimums? (LIR, 3CP)
* Is alcohol served at the tables free like AC and LV?
* How are the rooms? Is it worth the $249/night I see on the casino website and Expedia and the like?

thanks for any input.