Live! Casino employees rack up $336,000 in 15-minute shopping spree

Employees with Maryland’s Live! Casino & Hotel got the chance to fill their carts at Costco for the casino’s 10th anniversary. (Courtesy Live! Casino & Hotel)
Employees with Maryland’s Live! Casino & Hotel got the chance to fill their carts at Costco for the casino’s 10th anniversary. (Courtesy Live! Casino & Hotel)
Employees with Maryland’s Live! Casino & Hotel got the chance to fill their carts at Costco for the casino’s 10th anniversary. (Courtesy Live! Casino & Hotel)
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Maryland’s Live! Casino & Hotel capped off its 10th anniversary celebrations by giving 100 employees a chance to fill their carts at a Costco on the casino’s dime.

The 100 employees were chosen by a random lottery. Live! Casino & Hotel has about 2,600 employees total.



The winners met at the Costco store in Hanover, Maryland, on June 27, and were given 15 minutes to shop, limited to what would fit in the carts — though some merchandise was excluded.

They managed to spend a total of $336,000, or an average of almost $3,400 per employee, in 15 minutes, all of which was paid for by the casino.

The first items to sell out were lump crab meat, steaks, vacuums and other small appliances, Kitchen Aid mixers, pots and pans, and pricey skin-care items. One employee said he got everything he needed for his new apartment — it was his first time living on his own.

One employee purchased a kitchen sink. Another bought Pokemon cards as a “future investment.”

Developer the Cordish Companies opened Live! Casino at Arundel Mills in 2012. It added its 310-room hotel in 2018. The hotel earned AAA’s 4-Diamond rating in 2019.

Live! generates the second-most gaming revenue among Maryland’s six casinos, closely behind MGM National Harbor.

Jeff Clabaugh

Jeff Clabaugh has spent 20 years covering the Washington region's economy and financial markets for WTOP as part of a partnership with the Washington Business Journal, and officially joined the WTOP newsroom staff in January 2016.

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