Oct. 31–Penn National Gaming Inc. on Wednesday announced it has filed an application with the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board for its second mini-casino, which will be in southern Berks County.
Here's a look at the planned Hollywood Casino Morgantown by the numbers:
$111 million
That's the expected total investment in Hollywood Casino Morgantown, including the slot machines and table games license fees. The planned 80,000-square-foot facility, which will be built on a vacant 36-acre site in Caernarvon Township, Berks County, is expected to have 750 slot machines and 30 table games, with the ability to eventually accommodate an additional 10 table games. The gambling hall also will offer a sports and race book, a signature restaurant, an entertainment lounge and a food court. The facility is expected to create about 250 jobs.
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18 months
That's the anticipated construction timeline once all approvals are in place, including final licensing by the gaming control board. It is expected to create more than 275 construction jobs.
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3 major roads
The planned facility will be near the intersections of three main arteries: Interstate 76, Interstate 176 and Route 10. The location will allow Penn National to protect its Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course in Dauphin County while also penetrating deeper into the western Philadelphia suburbs. "The site we selected is unparalleled in terms of ease of access to three major arteries," Penn National CEO Timothy J. Wilmott said in a news release. "Hollywood Casino Morgantown is ideally situated to generate new revenues from the more densely populated suburbs to the west of Philadelphia, while further protecting our existing market share at Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course."
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2 mini casinos
This will be Penn National's second planned mini-casino, after the company won two of the five licenses that have been auctioned off so far. Penn National filed an application Sept. 12 for its first mini-casino, which will be called Hollywood Casino York and will be located in a 79,000-square-foot space that formerly housed Sears at the York Galleria Mall in Springettsbury Township, York County.
jon.harris@mcall.com
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