Motor City had planned to open their new hotel on Nov. 2, but is pushing the date to later in November. New gaming areas have been open since earlier this year, and older areas are being renovated. The new property is connected to the old, and both will be used in the new configuration. New house chip designs are not expected (when MGM Detroit moved into new digs, they issued new chips).

Greektown expects to complete a new parking structure soon and is posting billboareds touting the new structure. Parking around Greektown is terrible - the casino monopolizes all the structures for its employees and guests; the guests have to park two blocks away; and all other lots in the area have raised their rates from what used to be $5 - $6 to the $10 - $20 range (Ford Field, home of the lions, shares some blame, too). Even when you can park for free at the casino's garage, you are met with three large signs warning you that parking costs $20, and only one smaller sign telling you that you can park for free if your ticket is validated. I suspect this scares first-time visitors away, especially since (if you think you have to pay $20) it is even cheaper to drive to Canada and park for free at Casino Windsor.

A recent news article stated that Greektown's revenues were way down in September, in part because of parking woes. Those parking woes are also damaging area restaurants and other businesses - hurting what was one of the few vibrant areas of Detroit before casinos came into the picture. After all, who wants to pay $20 to park at the Parthenon downtown when you can go the the Parthenon in Bloomfield Hills and park for free and not have to run the gauntlet of beggars.