The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board got public input on Greenwood Gaming’s planned Parx Category 4 satellite casino during a public hearing last week in Shippensburg Township, the location of the proposed casino.
Held at a township facility, the hearing brought in dozens of local residents who testified both for and against the project, planned for half of a vacant Lowe’s department store. The satellite facility would open with 500 slot machines. 48 table games, and a 250-seat restaurant and sports bar. The plan includes renovation of the other half of the former store for future retail use.
Testimony from local community leaders generally followed the traditional—mostly refuted—claims about the effects of casinos in new locations—that gaming preys on the poor, that the project would lead to higher crime and addiction.
“Why would you want poor people hurting themselves and their families by spending,” posed Bruce Levy, a pastor and former Shippensburg Area Senior High School principal. “Why come to a poor town and take advantage of its people?”
Jim Rogers, pastor of Shippensburg First Church of God, testified that the casino would be a “cancer” on the community that would destroy what he called Shippensburg’s “Hallmark movie” atmosphere.
Local officials though, feel differently, as evidenced by testimony from government officials that highlighted the potential benefits of revenue driven by the new facility.
Mickey Nye, president of the Shippensburg Area Development Corp., testified as to what other communities have done with casino taxes and fees—disbursements to local food banks, shelters and other social services, scholarships, parks, road improvements, and aid to first responders in an area still dominate by volunteer agencies funded through community donations.
“Our biggest concern right now is lack of funding,” said Daniel Byers, president emeritus of the Vigilant Hose Company, in promoting the casino project.
“I think this is a gamble the Shippensburg community should take,” said Linda Asper, one of the Shippensburg Township supervisors.
Category 4 casinos, often called “mini-casinos,” were created under Pennsylvania’s 2017 gaming expansion law to give underserved areas a chance to benefit from gaming revenues. They are restricted to 750 slot machines and 30 table games at opening, with another 10 table games permissible on petition after opening. Most are linked to a current licensee—in this case, the Parx Casino in Bensalem, the highest-grossing casino in the state.
