Penn National Gaming which is considering a site off the Wrightsville exit of Route 30 in York County for its first mini-casino, last week assured local residents that any mini-casino plan would strive to preserve the nearby historic Mifflin House, which served as stop on the Underground Railroad during the first half of the 19th century.
Penn representatives told Hellam Township supervisors at a meeting last week that the company is looking at three parcels in a commercial zone just off the exit. At the same meeting, the supervisors, which previously voted to ban the satellite casinos from the township, voted unanimously to opt back into the mini-casino program.
“some residents and myself expressed support that if the (Mifflin House) parcel is selected, that the house structure be incorporated into the development of the casino,” Galen Weibley, chairman of the board of supervisors, told the York Daily Record. “I even used the example of the Lancaster Convention Center incorporating the brick structure of the Watt & Schand department store.”
The operator is sensitive to the concerns. “We understand the importance to the community,” Penn spokesman Jeff Morris told the newspaper.
The York County mini-casino was the first license awarded under the satellite program, and also the most expensive. Penn paid $50 million for the license at the first auction, in what was seen as a defensive move to protect its central Pennsylvania market base. Penn paid the additional $2.5 million required to offer up to 50 table games in addition to the 750 slot machines authorized under the satellite casino provision of Pennsylvania’s gaming expansion law.
