BANGOR (AP) – In its initial year of operation, Maine’s first slot machine parlor had more than 860,000 visits by gamblers who placed more than half a billion dollars in wagers.

Hollywood Slots at Bangor, which marked its first anniversary on Saturday, has drawn more customers and generated more revenues than expected. The state and the city of Bangor have received more than $17 million as their cuts from the operation.

“It’s hard to believe the money that’s coming in, but it’s coming in,” said Peter Danton, a member of the Maine Gambling Control Board.

The Hollywood Slots facility is a temporary operation with 475 slot machines, a small restaurant and bar and little else for amenities. It’s located in a nondescript building that used to house a family owned buffet-style restaurant.

So far, Hollywood Slots has had a successful start, said Jon Johnson, general manager of the facility. It has 130-140 employees and is keeping money in Maine that otherwise might go to out-of-state casinos, Johnson said.

Naysayers’ predictions of crime and problem gambling haven’t materialized, he said.

“What’s happened is jobs, revenues for the state and an uptick in the economy,” he said.

Slot machine gambling made its Maine debut when Hollywood Slots opened for business on Nov. 4, 2005. Hundreds of people lined up to be part of the action when the doors opened.

Since then, customers have been coming at the rate of about 2,400 a day to try their luck at machines with names like “Money Tree,” “Bonus Frenzy” and “Lucky Larry’s Lobstermania” that take bets ranging from 2 cents to $5.

In windowless rooms where it’s hard to tell day from night, row upon row of machines chime, 15 or 16 hours a day while customers watch the screens in front of them, pushing buttons to spin the wheels.

More than $520 million in wagers have been placed, although most of it is “churned” money that is bet over and over again. For the first 12 months of the year, gamblers lost $35.2 million in wagers.

Maine Gambling Control Board Executive Director Bob Welch projected that people would wager about $1,500 per slot machine when Hollywood Slots first opened. In fact, each machine has been averaging more than $3,500 per day each for the past six months.

When voters three years ago approved a referendum allowing slot machines at commercial horse racing tracks in Maine, critics said it would result in more crime, suicides and problem gamblers.

So far, there is little to suggest those predictions are coming true. Police were called to Hollywood Slots 82 times between opening day and Oct. 10 for things ranging from disorderly conduct to car accidents in the parking lot, according to Bangor Deputy Police Chief Peter Arno. “From our perspective, we would say that Hollywood Slots has had little impact on crime,” Arno said.

A former Mount Desert convenience store manager accused of embezzling $23,000 made headlines when he told police he gambled away the stolen money at Hollywood Slots.

The National Problem Gambling Helpline Network has been getting roughly 75 to 95 calls from Maine a month, but there doesn’t appear to be an upward trend since Hollywood Slots’ opening.

Nonetheless, gambling opponents are working to put Hollywood Slots out of business. The No Slots for ME! group is collecting signatures to force a vote next November asking Mainers if they want to ban all slot machines in Maine.

Over time, slot machines will spread across Maine and inevitably lead to problem gambling, increased crime and suicides, said Douglas Muir, spokesman for the group.

“Slot machines produce gambling addiction approximately three times faster than horse racing or the lottery,” he said. “So it is a more dangerous or more risky form of gambling.”

No Slots in ME! has to collect enough signatures – probably more than 50,000 – by Jan. 25 to get the question on the ballot; Muir won’t say how many signatures have been collected so far.

Others, however, want to see gambling expand in Maine. Two groups are now collecting signatures for referendums to allow for a tribal horse track with slot machines in Washington County and a casino in western Maine.

For its part, the Maine Gambling Control Board is taking a cautious approach to gambling’s future in Maine. In August, it passed a nonbinding resolution calling for a delay before any more casino-styling gambling facilities are authorized in the state.

Danton said the board wants to see what sort of impact Hollywood Slots is having before gambling is expanded. When Maine launched a lottery in 1974, nobody could have predicted that it would grow from a single weekly drawing with 50-cent tickets to today’s numerous instant, daily and weekly games to choose from.

“What’s going to happen when there’s 1,500 machines? It’s an entirely new venture for the state of Maine,” he said.

For now, though, Hollywood Slots’ customers seem to be happy. One day last week, scores of people played the machines. Most customers appeared to be over 50, and women appeared to outnumber men.

One woman played two machines at a time. Signs on the machines say, “One machine per player during peak hours.”

Outside, Joseph Brown of Campobello, New Brunswick, was all smiles after winning an $8,000 jackpot on a 2-cent machine. It was his first time there “and my last time, too,” he said, preferring to quit while he’s ahead.

Joanne Bailey of Cherryfield comes to Hollywood Slots once a month instead of going to bingo. She called slots fun entertainment and critics are wrong to tell people what to do.

“People are going to spend their money however they want,” she said. “They earn it. They’re entitled.”