Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Next mini casino slated for State College area
Investor, who is on Penn State Board of Trustees, wins bid for license
Pennsylvania’s next Category 4 casino could literally be at the center of the commonwealth.
Pennsylvania’s next Category 4 casino could literally be in the middle of the state.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board announced that businessman Ira M. Lubert won the latest auction Wednesday to build a mini-casino. A member of Penn State’s Board of Trustees, Lubert bid $10,000,101 to build the casino within a 15-mile radius of Unionville, Centre County. That area includes State College, which previously opted out as a casino location. Media reports have the Nittany Mall, located a few miles north of the borough and Penn State University, as a favored site.
Lubert, a Philadelphia-based investor, is currently licensed by the PGCB in connection with an ownership interest with Holdings Acquisitions Co. LP, operator of Rivers Casino Pittsburgh, which made him an eligible bidder. He opened the Valley Forge Casino, Upper Merion Township, Montgomery County, in 2012, and later sold it.
The PGCB said the auction was held after Mount Airy Casino Resorts’ Category 4 slot machine license was denied after the company had financial difficulties.
Four other Category 4 licenses were awarded in 2018 auctions with three mini-casinos under construction, including two by Wyomissing-based Penn National Gaming Inc. in York and Caernarvon Township. Cordish Gaming Group is currently building a mini-ca- sino in Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County, while Parx Casino has one on the drawing board for Shippensburg, Cumberland County.
Lubert is required to pay the bid price within two business days, and then has up to six months to submit an application for the Category 4 Slot Machine License that will contain the exact site.
A Category 4 Slot Machine License would permit the mini-casino to operate between 300 and 750 slot machines. The entity could also petition for permission to initially operate up to 30 table games for an additional fee of $2.5 million with the capability of adding an additional 10 tables games after its first year of operation.