In the first regulatory action since a public-input hearing last August, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has officially capped the public comment period on a mini-casino planned by Ira Lubert and his SC Gaming, LLC, along with Bally’s Corp., for a Category 4 mini-casino at the Nittany Mall in Centre County, near State College and the campus of Pennsylvania State University.
Last August’s hearing, at which residents expressed concerns about the project and local businesses championed it, kicked off the period when public comments were accepted by the board via online, email, fax or mail. Last week, the board set 5 p.m. June 12 as the cutoff for comment.
The next move is for the board to schedule another public hearing, after which the license can officially be granted. Since the board normally uses its monthly meetings for such hearings, the next three possible dates are June 15, July 20 and August 17.
Board spokesman Doug Harbach told the Centre Daily Times that contributing factors to the prolonged comment period were the lingering pandemic and significant background work.
“Many investigations take a good bit of time, sometimes because we have to continue asking for more and better info,” Harbach said. “Remember that we do background investigations for the licensing of many different gaming entities such as manufacturers, suppliers, etc., not just casinos. Many have taken a considerable amount of time.”
Then there’s the pending lawsuit from losing bidder Cordish Companies challenging the award of the license to Lubert, but Harbach told the newspaper the delay had nothing to do with that. Most license awards in the state have been challenged by losing bidders, but none have been successful.
Lubert, a Penn State alumnus and sole official of SG Gaming, won the license at the first auction open to bidders outside of current casino licensees—that’s one of the issues being challenged in the Cordish lawsuit.
Category 4 casinos, limited to 750 slots and 40 table games, were originally available only as satellites to current Category 1 (racino) and Category 2 (stand-alone casino) licensees.
The proposed 94,000-square-foot casino has a $123 million budget. Besides the casino, it would include a sportsbook and a sports-themed restaurant and bar with live entertainment, and a multi-outlet food court.
The plan would use the existing structure of the former Macy’s anchor store in Nittany Mall. Construction would take about a year, and the casino is expected to create 350-400 full-time equivalent jobs.
