Greenwood Gaming, owner of the Parx Casino in the Philadelphia suburb of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, has identified a former Lowe’s home improvement store in Shippensburg as the location of the operator’s proposed Category 4 satellite casino tied to the Parx license.
The operator filed its petition with the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) naming the Shippensburg location after completion of a traffic impact study by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. The company signed a letter of intent to lease the 139,535-square-foot store last September for the casino, and settled on a plan to mitigate traffic impact on March 17.
In an interview with the Shippensburg News-Chronicle, PGCB spokesman Doug Harbach said the board will soon hold a public hearing on the impact of the proposed casino. The board holds hearings to give local government officials, community leaders and residents the opportunity to comment on the proposed project before granting the Category 4 license.
“All parties would like to move aggressively in getting the project in front of the board for a final determination because we’re talking about significant revenue and jobs for the town and commonwealth,” Harbach said.
Greenwood won the license in a 2018 auction for a bid of $8.1 million. Category 4 casinos are limited to 750 slot machines and 30 table games on opening, with the ability to add another 10 tables on petition after opening. According to a conditional use application filed with Shippensburg Township, the former home improvement store, on a 20.94-acre parcel that also includes a Walmart store, would initially host 600 gaming positions and a 250-seat, nationally branded restaurant and sports bar.
The application lists an anticipated 150-175 construction jobs and approximately 125 permanent jobs related to the project. The Shippensburg Township Board of Supervisors has scheduled a hearing for consideration and approval of the use application on April 3.
“It’s not a done deal and we don’t know where it is all going, but if the project is successful, this will be a big thing for the greater Shippensburg area, not just Shippensburg Township,” Township Supervisor Steve Oldt told the News-Chronicle. “There will be naysayers that say this will bring drugs, crime and prostitutes, but this is not the same as going to the casinos in Atlantic City or Las Vegas. This is a mini-casino, and it will be one of the safest places in Shippensburg.”
