Pennsylvania close to doubling casinos
Ten casino licenses are set to be awarded in Pennsylvania in 2018 in order to expand the state’s gambling offer.
US.- Pennsylvania is close to getting US$100 million in new licensing revenue as 2018 closes in and the casino offering in the state is set to nearly double itself. On January 10, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) will auction 10 “mini-casino” permits after Governor Tom Wolf created, alongside lawmakers, the new Category 4 casino licenses.
Pennsylvania already has 12 existing casinos from which this “mini-casinos” will have to be 25 miles away. Furthermore, they’re banned from any “sixth-class county which is contiguous to a county that hosts a Category 2 licensed facility.”
Categories in the state are: Category 1 (race track), Category 2 (stand-alone), Category 3 (resort) and the new Category 4. Bidding for each license will start at US$7.5 million with an additional US$2.5 million in order to have table games. They’re also limited to 750 slots and 30 table games.
Las Vegas Sands spokesman Ron Reese told lehighvalleylive.com that “Las Vegas Sands remains bullish on Pennsylvania and its gaming market, but we do not have a comment at this time regarding any future opportunities we may have there.”
The license auctions will begin next January 10 at 10 a.m. in the Gaming Control Board’s Public Hearing Room on the second floor of Strawberry Square in Harrisburg, and will have further sessions on January 24, February 7 and 21, March 7 and 21, April 4 and 18 and May 2 and 16.
