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The Rose Gaming Resort in Dumfries is preparing for its grand opening Nov. 7, and here’s a snapshot of what patrons can expect.
The $460 million gaming facility opened to the public with a soft opening on Oct. 23, unveiling the gaming floor with 1,650 historical horse racing terminals to members of the public.
The slot-like historical horse racing machines look and play similarly to traditional slot machines, but winners are determined by historical horse races. The historical horse racing machines use pari-mutuel wagering.
Aside from the horse racing betting terminals, The Rose features more than 100 hotel rooms and eight restaurants and bars.
Because The Rose is tied to horse racing – along with every other Rosie’s gaming emporiums – the facility has an off-track betting room that is open from noon to midnight seven days a week where people can wager on live broadcasts of horse races.
The restaurants and bars have been slower to get off the ground, which led in part to the slow, soft opening, said Bobbi Sample, general manager of The Rose.
“This has been a challenging project from a construction standpoint, and the most affected piece of that was our food and beverage teams, and we’re still onlining some of our food and beverage teams with about half are up,” Sample said.
Currently, about half of the restaurants and bars are open. All of the dining facilities will be open when the facility hosts its grand opening this week week.
Playbook Sports Bar and Grill is one of the restaurants up and running, where there’s a stage for live entertainment.
The 1609 steakhouse is also open for business, offering a more upscale meal for evening diners. The steakhouse, open from Wednesday to Sunday, is a nod to the year horse racing came to Virginia also happens to be the number – 1609 – of the 2018 bill that passed in Virginia’s House of Representatives that legalized historical horse racing in the state.
Between the gaming floor and the entrance to the hotel is a food court that will offer a number of dining options, including a 24-hour corner store offering coffee, pastries and other grab-and-go items, an Italian restaurant, burger restaurant, a Cajun seafood dining option and another eatery offering traditional southern cuisine.
Sample, who is also the general manager of the nearby Rosie’s Gaming Emporium, said the all-in employee count between the two facilities is expected to be around 500 employees. Most of the employees are already on board, Sample said, and many are local hires.
While most of the new hires are from Dumfries and the surrounding area, Sample said they did bring in some workers from other gaming facilities because it is helpful to have employees who already have experience in the industry.
The soft opening has been beneficial for many of these new employees, Sample said.
“It’s been very helpful for our team too, because a lot of them are new to gaming, so they’re having an opportunity, without being crushed by activity, to be able to really hone their skills in their job,” the general manager said.
The facility has a strong security presence, with Evolv weapons scanners at both entrances to the gaming floor and even a police substation for Dumfries town police in the back of house.
The facility is expected to generate around $200 million in gross revenue in its first year of business, Sample said.
Sisters Kerrie and Sandy Gonnella made the 30-minute drive to The Rose from Burke Friday to check out the new gaming facility.
Kerrie, 62, said she loves to gamble and asked her younger sister Sandy, 60, to join her on her day off work.
The sisters said they heard about the soft opening but waited a little bit to visit to avoid the crowds.
While Sample told reporters the Maryland casinos, like MGM in National Harbor, are competitors, the Gonnella sisters said they like The Rose better.
“I like it better. It’s smaller, which I find it’s just easier to get around. So far the employees have just been awesome, smiling, happy,” Kerrie said.
