Maryland Live! Celebrating Its 5th Anniversary In A Big Way

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The largest gaming facility in Maryland is celebrating its fifth anniversary in a big way.

Maryland Live! is the big five, and they are celebrating the entire month of June for their fifth anniversary, giving away a Tesla every Friday.

They even had the Cake Boss to help with the celebrations.

The casino opened June 6, 2012, and since then it has expanded with restaurants, entertainment, and table games to become one of the biggest attractions in the state.

Now comes the competition. May revenue for Maryland Live! was close to $46 million. That is down $13 million from May of last year.

MGN National Harbor, which opened in December, had slots and tables revenue of $50.5 million. It's the second time it's top the $50 million mark since it opened.

But Maryland Live! has been the state's biggest casino tax contributor since it opened in 2012.

"With the volume of business we've done here, we've contributed $1.4 billion to the state of Maryland, with $1.1 [billion] of that going to support the schools. Along with almost $100 million that's gone back right here in the local community of Anne Arundel, " said Rob Norton, with Maryland Live!

And Maryland Live! will be getting even bigger with a new hotel opening in 2018, not satisfied to run second to MGN.

"Of course not. No, we are not okay being second," said Norton. "We are a very competitive organization, and we think our plans for how we move forward,we'll be a tough competitor for anybody in this market, or in this region.

You can expect them to celebrate next year's anniversary with that brand-new hotel.

Since opening in 2012, Maryland Live! has created nearly 3,000 jobs.

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