First Pennsylvania casino license in five years approved
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has approved the first mini-casino license under the 2017 gaming expansion law, giving the OK to Penn National Gaming, which will build the $111 million Hollywood Casino Morgantown on a vacant 36-acre site in Caernarvon County, Berks County, near the intersection of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and Interstate 176.
Penn National predicts the casino will open in late 2020.
The new casino has generated significant controversy due to its location at the edge of Amish Country, including critics who lodged complaints that it is not a good fit for the rural, highly religious area. More than 200 people attended the public hearing the board held on the project in March, with those opposed—all sporting “CasiNO” badges—easily outnumbering those in favor.
However, the project has had the support of local business leaders and elected officials, who are welcoming the new jobs and economic boost the casino will provide. Some leaders have commented that the critics constitute a small but vocal minority.
Shelley King, a local resident who was among those speaking out against the casino at the public meeting, took issue with that opinion in comments to the PennLive news site last week. “This community is still very divided on this issue,” she said, “as shown by the petitions, letters written to the board and those speakers at the hearing.”
There are plenty of residents who approve of the project as well. “I think it’s awesome,” resident Rasheeda White told WFMZ-TV. “It’s going to bring more people into the neighborhood, more finances.”
PGCB Chairman David M. Barasch told PennLive that all opinions were considered before the license was issued. “The board has considered the various views throughout this process,” he said.
Mini-casinos, or satellite casinos, were created to give current land-based licensees access to underserved areas. The facilities, known as Category 4 casinos, are limited to 750 slot machines and 40 table games, and must be at least 25 miles from a current casino. Hollywood Casino Morgantown will open with 750 machine and 30 table games (casinos can apply to increase the table-game floor to the maximum 40). The casino also will have a full race and sports book, a signature restaurant, a food hall and an entertainment lounge.
The project represents the first new casino license issued by the Pennsylvania board since 2014, when it approved the license for Philadelphia’s Stadium Casino LLC. The Live! Casino Hotel Philadelphia also is slated to open in late 2020. It is the first of five mini-casinos up for board approval, including a project of Stadium Casino in a former Bon-Ton department store at Westmoreland Mall in Hempfield.
Morgantown increases the number of gaming properties operated by Penn National to 42, spread across North America.
