Application Period For Category 3 Slot Machine Operator's License Now Open Until April 7th

HARRISBURG, PA: Last week’s passage of Senate Bill 711, which approved table games for Pennsylvania casinos, also opened a 90-day period in which the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is authorized to accept applications from qualified resort hotels to be considered for a Category 3 slot machine operator’s license.

The Board announced that it has placed the required application and instructions on its web site, www.pgcb.state.pa.us, and that applications will be accepted through the end of the business day on April 7, 2010.

The Pennsylvania Race Horse Development and Gaming Act permits the Board to award up to two Category 3 licenses. In April 2009, the Board awarded one of those licenses to the Valley Forge Convention Center.

A Category 3 slot machine casino must be located in a well-established Pennsylvania resort hotel with no fewer than 275 guest rooms under common ownership, not located within 15 linear miles of any other licensed slot machine casino, and having substantial year-round recreational guest amenities on their premises including, but not limited to:

•   Sports and recreational activities such as a golf course or driving range
•   Tennis courts
•   Swimming pools or a water park
•   A health spa
•   Meeting and banquet facilities
•   Entertainment facilities
•   Restaurant facilities
•   Downhill or cross-country skiing facilities
•   Bowling lanes
•   Movie theaters

The use of a Category 3 casino is limited to individuals who are any of the following:

•   a registered overnight guest of the resort hotel
•   a patron of one or more of the amenities provided by the resort hotel
•   an individual, and one guest, who holds a seasonal or year-round membership that allows the individual to use one or more of the amenities provided by the resort

If awarded a Category 3 Slot Machine Operator’s license, the holder must pay a $5,000,000 one-time fee to the Commonwealth to operate up to 500 slot machines. The license holder must also maintain $1,000,000 in an account as a deposit from which payments can be drawn to satisfy bills from the regulatory agencies of the Commonwealth.

Should the casino seek and be granted a table game certificate, the casino would pay the Commonwealth $7,500,000 to operate up to 50 gaming tables at any one time, along with the ability to seek authorization by the PGCB’s Executive Director to operate up to 15 additional gaming tables for use in poker tournaments. The table games certificate also permits the casino to increase the number of slot machines to no more than 600.

The Board invites any interested parties who have additional questions on the Category 3 license and application process to contact a representative in the PGCB’s Bureau of Licensing by calling 717-346-8300 or by e-mail at pgcb@state.pa.us.

About the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board was established in 2004 with the passage of Act 71, also known as the Race Horse Development and Gaming Act. Pennsylvania’s first new state agency in nearly 40 years, the Gaming Control Board is tasked to oversee all aspects of the state’s casino industry. To date, with nine of a maximum fourteen casinos in operation, legalized gaming in the Commonwealth has created over 8,000 new living wage jobs, revenue that has provided property tax reduction in each of the past two years for all homeowners, and funds that have reinvigorated Pennsylvania’s horse racing industry. A wealth of information about the Gaming Control Board and Pennsylvania’s gaming industry can be found at www.pgcb.state.pa.us. At this web site, videos and information on the operation of the PGCB, problem gambling efforts and assistance, future meeting schedules and past meeting transcripts, and a link to request a speaker are among the many items available.

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