Pennsylvania opens new auction for mini-casino

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board will make a second attempt to auction a licence for a mini-casino in the state.

US.- The state of Pennsylvania is set to open an auction for a mini-casino licence today (Wednesday).

The state opened a similar auction last year but couldn’t find a bidder willing to pay the minimum price of $7.5 million to run a mini-casino in the state.

The same minimum bid still stands this year, but the control board has expanded the criteria for applicants to cover any Pennsylvania casino operator “as well as a person with an ownership interest.”

That means that this time round the auction will be open to any principal investor in one of the state’s 13 licensed casinos. The board hopes that this way it may attract more interest in the licence.

Cordish Companies, an entertainment and real estate business, has already told media that it intended on placing a bit.

The auction aims to grant a category 4 casino licence. These were created through a 2017 law that sought to expand gambling options in the state. Category 4 casinos, so-called mini-casinos, are permitted to operate up to 750 slot machines and 40 table games.

The state has suffered huge drops in tax revenue as a result of casino closures during the coronavirus pandemic.