Yesterday, Pennsylvania gave the green light to the third mini-casino license in the state and a second license for Penn National Gaming to open such a gambling venue in a vacant former Sears store location.
With a unanimous vote, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) decided to award a casino operating license to a subsidiary of Penn National Gaming. The company is now allowed to build a mini-casino in the York Galleria Mall. According to plans unveiled by the company, the new satellite casino is set to be affiliated with the Hollywood Casino of the gambling operator at Penn National Race Course.
Construction has already started at Hollywood Casino York. Penn National officials revealed that the new gambling venue is expected to start operation in about 12 to 13 months, in other words in late 2020 or early 2021. As they also shared, the mini-casino would feature only one gaming floor and will offer 24 table games, 500 electronic gambling machines, off-track betting and sports betting parlor. Dining and beverage services would also be available on-site.
According to preliminary expectations, up to 260 construction jobs would be created by the satellite casino project. After the facility starts operating at full speed, it is expected to employ about 200 people. Preliminary estimates show that the mini-casino could generate an annual gambling tax and fee revenue of about $1 million for the local community.
Mini-Casinos Were Officially Legalized in Pennsylvania in 2017
Mini-casinos, which are also known under the term “satellite casinos” are formally described as Category 4 casinos. They have been officially brought to the state of Pennsylvania as part of its gambling expansion in 2017 with a law under which existing casino license holders were given the chance to add smaller gambling locations offering up to 30 table games and 750 slot machines to their operations.
Penn National has been eligible to make an offer for recently approved mini-casinos along with other casino owners in Pennsylvania. The largest casinos in the state can operate no less than 250 table games and up to 5,000 slot machines. Local casinos are also given permission to offer sports betting services on their premises.
So far, two other mini-casinos have received the approval of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. In November, Stadium Casino LLC started the construction of its Live! Casino Pittsburg, and Penn National is opening its Berks County-based Hollywood Casino Morgantown. The newly-approved satellite casino location would be the second one of this kind for Penn National.
The proposed Shippensburg-based satellite casino of Parx Casino still awaits regulatory approval but plans have faced some obstacles after findings that the suggested site was not appropriate for hosting a mini-casino. Currently, Parx Casino is looking for another location for its satellite casino facility.
