The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board last week voted unanimously to grant a license to the Hollywood Casino Morgantown, which is owned by Penn National Gaming.
Penn says it will open the state’s newest casino late next year about 12 miles from its company headquarters in Wyomissing. It will be the first mini-casino authorized under the 2017 law that expanded gaming in the Keystone State and also authorized sports betting, online gaming and internet lotteries. Up to ten satellite casinos could be built under the law, as long as they are more than 25 miles from an existing casino. The law allowed towns to opt out of hosting such a casino.
It will be hosted by Caernarvon, a town of 4,000 residents in Berks County on the edge of Amish country. The town will get about $1.6 million in tax revenue, nearly two-thirds of its current budget.
Supporters of the casino are hoping it will bring more jobs to the Morgantown area and give a shot in the arm to the Berks County economy, as well as attract more young professionals to the area. Penn National promises 250 permanent jobs and 275 construction jobs.
But there are opponents, including 1,000 people who have signed a petition against the casino. They worry about added crime and gambling addicts.
Besides winning a bid for the $111-million casino Hollywood Casino Morgantown, Penn also won the bid for Galleria Mall.
Other satellite casinos authorized include one in South Philadelphia, another in the Westmoreland Mall outside Pittsburgh, a satellite casino north of Pittsburgh and in Shippensburg.
Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has granted a license to the Rutter’s convenience store chain for five video gaming terminals at its store in Walker Township, Juniata County.
It is the first Rutter’s location to achieve final licensing for VGTs under the truck stop VGT provision in Pennsylvania’s 2017 gaming expansion law, and the first to go to a convenience store chain.
The chain has sued the state challenging a new law that allows municipalities to vote to opt out of video gaming after the fact. Plans for VGTs at two other Rutter’s stores were voted down by municipalities after the applications had been submitted to the board.
Rutter’s also has applications pending for 19 additional stores in central Pennsylvania.
PGCB spokesman Doug Harbach told the PennLive news site the Walker Township store was licensed primarily because it was the first of the Rutter’s stores to have a completed review by the board’s staff. The others remain under review.
“They may need to address some issues and that might take time on their end,” Harbach said. “If remedied, they may eventually be recommended to the board for approval or, if they are not able to remedy in order to qualify under the guidelines of the act, then they may be recommended for denial.
“We are moving on them as quickly as our staffing will permit.”
Rutter’s operates about 70 company-owned stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia.
