As a lawsuit from Cordish Companies awaits action by Pennsylvania courts, the subject of the suit—the winning bid by Philadelphia businessman Ira Lubert and Bally’s Corp. to build a mini-casino at the Nittany Mall near Penn State University—remains in limbo.
Mini-casinos are officially Category 4 casinos in Pennsylvania, created by the state’s 2017 gaming expansion law to address underserved markets with casinos limited to 750 slot machines and 40 table games.
If local residents have their way, however, there will be no mini-casino in the Penn State neighborhood.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board held a hearing on the Lubert-Bally’s proposal in August, and must hold a follow-up hearing before it can officially award the license for a Category 4 casino. Cordish, reportedly mulling what would be its second mini-casino in the state in the same former Macy’s store in Nittany Mall, was only revealed recently as having submitted a losing bid in the auction won by Lubert. The Baltimore developer’s lawsuit is challenging that winning bid.
While a lawsuit by a losing bidder challenging a license award is common in Pennsylvania, there is one other challenge that will be faced by either potential casino-owner—local opposition.
The gaming board has continued to accept public comments pending further action on the license. According to a news report by Harrisburg station WTAJ, the overwhelming majority of those comments have opposed placing a casino near the university. One resident interviewed for the report said he plans to enlist the help of Penn State President Eric Barron to prevent the casino from being placed at the mall, which is a short drive from the university campus.
“We’ve had 510 people send in messages of opposition so far,” said resident Andrew Shaffer, according to the report. “Only 57 people have sent in messages of support.”
He said he hopes Barron, who has vocally opposed sports betting as potentially harmful to Penn State athletics, will help him quash the casino. “We’d like him to reach out to the Gaming Control Board again and request that they deny the license for this casino, simply on the grounds that it’s foolish to place any casino so close to a population of 48,000 students,” Shaffer said.
The Cordish lawsuit alleges the license was improperly awarded to Lubert, who is not currently a casino licensee. A 2020 law opened the way for non-licensees to bid on new casinos after auctions began to be ignored by current licensees, provided the bidder owns a stake in a currently licensed casino. Lubert owns part of the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh.
History has shown that lawsuits by losing bidders challenging a license award have failed. However, the combination of the lawsuit and the negative local reaction will be considered by the board before it issues its final license.
