Penn National obtains mini-casino licence in PA

After being the sole bidder, the company has become the fifth mini-casino licence holder in Pennsylvania.

US.- On Wednesday Penn National Gaming became the winning bidder for a fifth new mini-casino licence authorised by the state of Pennsylvania. The sole licence bidder could become the state-leading company with four casinos.

Penn National submitted a bid just US$3 over the US$7.5 million minimum and ended up winning the auction. This amount has been the lowest so far, with the fourth bidder being the second with a US$9.9 million offer.

A Penn National spokesman said that the company still hasn’t decided on a specific location yet, but that the facility could be built in southern Berks County, either in the city of Reading, its suburbs or along a section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Pennsylvania is trying to auction 10 licences to build mini-casinos in the state. Those facilities can feature up to 750 slot machines and 40 table games. The previous four licences have been sold to facilities in Lawrence, York, Cumberland and Westmoreland. From those transactions, the state was able to collect more than US$118 million.

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.