Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment won a key approval of its plan to build a Category 4 satellite casino in Cumberland County, in the south-central portion of Pennsylvania, when the Shippensburg Township Board of Supervisors voted 3-0 to approve Greenwood’s plan to develop a Parx-branded casino just off Interstate 81.
Category 4 casinos, limited to 750 slots and 30 table games (with 10 additional tables by petition), were created by Pennsylvania’s 2017 gaming expansion law to place gaming in underserved areas. The proposed 77,572-square-foot Parx Casino, linked to the license of the successful Parx casino in the Philadelphia suburb of Bensalem, is planned for more than half of the space of a former Lowe’s store in the Shippen Towne Center, with the remainder of the space slated for retail development.
The Parx mini-casino is planned to open with 600 slot machines and a nationally branded restaurant and sports bar with seating for around 250. The facility will provide around 125 full-time and part-time jobs, with full-time position averaging more than $40,000 in salary plus benefits.
The casino is expected to boost tax revenue in a township where 65 percent of the land is occupied by Shippensburg University, which pays no local property tax.
“The dollars for us, if we can put this thing to bed with a casino, will be a real win,” Township Supervisor Steve Oldt told the Pennlive news site. “I can now fund the fire department. I can fund the EMS. I cannot worry about trying to go out there and figure out how much taxes we’ve got coming in. Because we’ll be able to benefit the community.”
The new Parx Casino is slated to open sometime in 2022.
