Once upon a time the Poconos Mountains of Pennsylvania was the place to go on your honeymoon or romantic weekend if you lived in the Northeast. Mount Airy Lodge was one of the most popular resorts, with their famous heart-shaped tubs and major headline stars performing there. But everything changed in the 70’s and 80’s, there was a brand new place to go Atlantic City.

Now the Poconos want to call people back to the pretty mountains and the Mount Airy Lodge is open again as Pennsylvania’s first free standing casino.

As the Pennsylvania laws stand right now only slots can be played, Mount Airy Lodge has 2,523 of them, and some are embedded in the large circular bar so that you can enjoy the slots while enjoying your drinks. The gaming floor is comparable in size to Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort.

Joe D’Amato CEO of Mount Airy says, "If you look at our business from Friday night to Sunday evening, there are a lot of New Jersey license plates in our parking lot. It's an Atlantic City-like crowd." D'Amato refers to the decor as classy and a big factor to their clientele with beautiful, large glass sculptures, cascading waterfall on the inside and from the outside looking like an old fashioned mountain lodge nestled in the mountains.

Mount Airy is still undergoing its transformation this week they are opening their 188 hotel rooms, including 26 suites. A spa, salon, nightclub and VIP room will follow next month. By 2009 they hope to have a reopening with an additional 212 hotel rooms, 500 slot machines and an 18-hole golf course being refurbished from the old days of Mount Airy.

If all works out well with the Mount Airy Lodge Pennsylvania may be on to something to rival Atlantic City and help their economy.

- 2007-11-12