The Meadows Racetrack & Casino could have the most slot machines in Pennsylvania, at least temporarily, after it opens its permanent facility in the spring.

Casino officials gave a tour yesterday of the shell of the cavernous 350,000-square-foot structure, on which they are spending $132 million to replace a temporary facility that opened in June 2007. The new building combining casino and racetrack wagering operations is to open in April or May with capacity for 4,000 slot machines, compared to the 1,825 available at The Meadows now.

General Manager Mike Graninger said the intent is to open with nearly 3,000 machines and increase that within weeks to 3,900. None of the existing Pennsylvania casinos has more than 3,000 machines, although slots parlors to open in Pittsburgh in the summer and Philadelphia later are expected to also exceed that number.

Although the gambling industry has been hurt across the nation by the economic downturn, that impact has not been evident for The Meadows or other Pennsylvania operators. Slots revenue at the North Strabane facility in November amounted to $19.3 million, or $1.7 million more than in November 2007. Its daily revenue per machine of more than $352 was the highest in the state.

The new casino is being built with the idea that half of its machines will be available to smokers, a request that The Meadows also has pending with the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board for its temporary hall. The state's new anti-smoking law restricted casinos initially to allowing smoking at 25 percent of machines, but they are eligible to broaden that based on data showing the machines with smoking are generating more revenue than nonsmoking slots.

The new structure is also being built to provide room for 40 table games such as blackjack, craps and roulette in the center of the casino, and a poker room downstairs adjacent to the race wagering and simulcasting, if the Legislature decides to legalize those forms of gambling.