PA receives no bids for a sixth mini-casino license
The state’s gambling regulator revealed that it received no bids for the sixth mini-casino licence.
US.- The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) revealed on Wednesday that no bids for a sixth mini-casino licence were received. After the disappointment, the regulatory body said that a determination on holding an additional auction round for a Category 4 casino will be announced at a later date.
The State’s Gaming Law establishes that if an auction within the second round of auctions fails to generate any bids, the board may, in its discretion, determine if it is in the best interests of the Commonwealth to conduct additional auctions at which any Category 1, Category 2 or Category 3 slot machine licensee, or other qualified entity, may bid. The Board had previously made four awards in its initial round of auctions in which current Category 1 and 2 licence holders could participate.
The PGCB said that if the board elects to conduct additional auctions, it must first establish criteria and procedures for the qualification of entities to participate in the bidding for a Category 4 location to place a casino. Under law, a maximum of 10 Category 4 casinos could be awarded.
The first bid to operate the casino was set at US$50 million. The winner of the second licence – Stadium Casino LLC – bid US$40.1 million to operate a mini-casino which will be located near Derry Township. Meanwhile, the gaming authority granted the third licence to the Mountainview Thoroughbred Racing Association LLC for US$50.1 million, for a mini-casino in the York area. However, the fourth bidder – Las Vegas Sands Corp. – has only bid US$9.9 million with a proposed project to build a casino within 15 miles of a location chosen in Hempfield Township in north-western Pennsylvania’s Mercer County. The fifth and so far last bidder was Penn National Gaming, which submitted a bid just US$3 over the US$7.5 million minimum and ended up winning the auction.
