The new Choctaw Casino Resort is a beehive of activity as final preparations are made for the Feb. 9 grand opening.

A combination of construction workers, restaurant staff, electricians and casino staff were all working hard inside the new resort this week. Director of Marketing Edye (pronounced ee- dee) Tomasello gave a tour of the facility.

Opening ceremonies will begin at 6 p.m.

”We’re going to have everyone gather outside the building for the opening ceremony,” Tomasello said. “Chief Pyle will speak, we’ll have the ribbon cutting, then do the fireworks and light up the building.”

After the ceremony, everyone will be invited inside to see the new facility, with everything open and ready for business, from the hotel to the gaming floor, to the poker room and all the restaurants.

“We'll be giving opening gifts to the first several thousand people to come in,” Tomasello said. “All the venues will be open for our guests to take advantage of that night.”

The resort will have a soft opening for invited guests in the week prior to opening to the general public on Feb. 9.

The casino is giving away $500,000 and a Lexus to Players Club members in drawings to be held every hour from noon to 9 p.m. starting Wednesday, Feb.10, with $1,000 drawings Wednesday, Thursday and $10,000 drawings on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Poker pros T. J. Cloutier, Kathy Leibert and Tom McEvoy will be at the resort from Tuesday through Sunday, and guests will have the opportunity to play with the pros and attend seminars hosted by the well-known players.

“We’ll have poker bootcamps and autograph sessions and they have a day’s worth of activities planned where they’ll be in the poker room with the players,” Tomasello said.

The hotel is already starting to book rooms for the grand opening and into the coming months.

“We are now taking reservations in the new hotel and we do have quite a few booked,” Tomasello said. “We also have a few groups booked for the coming year.”

Business groups will be able to take advantage of an expanded conference center and be entertained at an outdoor 175-seat amphitheater. The hotel will also be available for weddings and wedding parties. The amenities offered at the new resort are many and varied. Hotel guests will have a fitness center, a business center, a full service spa and a natatorium (an indoor/outdoor pool) to make use of when they are not at the tables. Casino guests will have 110,000 square feet of gaming space, with more than 3,000 slot machines, 30 poker tables, and 38 table games (Blackjack, Three card poker, etc.). Food choices will include a food court, steakhouse, Tex-Mex, buffet, barbecue, pizzeria, deli, grill and coffee shop. Tomasello’s marketing department has been exceptionally busy, ensuring that promotions are set, doing direct mailings and working on new campaigns for print media and television advertising.

“We’ve been working with the photographers and film crews to develop all our photography and of course our new commercials,” Tomasello said. The new commercials will be airing starting on Feb. 1 and running locally and in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.

“Our customer base is located right here in Texoma and in the metroplex, so that’s where our emphasis will be,” Tomasello said.