Gaming Control Board Grants Authorization To Conduct Table Games At Three More Pennsylvania Casinos

Board and casinos continue to work toward mid-year implementation of table games

HARRISBURG: The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board today approved the petitions of three casinos to conduct table games, bringing to five the total of casinos that has gained this approval.

Approved by the Board following conclusion of the public hearing process were:

Mount Airy #1, LLC, operator of Mount Airy Casino Resort in Monroe County
Mountainview Thoroughbred Racing Association, operator of Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course in Dauphin County
Sands Bethworks Gaming, LLC, operator of Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem in Northampton County

In March, the operators of Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs in Luzerne County and the parx Casino/Philadelphia Park Racetrack in Bucks County gained Board approval of their petitions to operate table games.

Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board Chairman Greg Fajt said today’s approvals keeps the process of implementing table games at casinos moving forward. He says Board staff and the casinos are continuing to work toward getting table games up and running as soon as possible, all the while doing so with a priority to protect the collective needs of the Commonwealth.

“While the approval to conduct table games is critical, the Board still has months of work to do in order to assure patrons at our casinos that table games will be conducted fair and by employees with the highest integrity,” Fajt says. “In kind, the casinos must complete rearrangements of the gaming floor space, hire thousands of new employees and allow each to be investigated by the Board, and assure that patrons are offered a clean and enjoyable experience by properly training the table game dealers.

Fajt said the goal continues to be a rollout of table games sometime around mid-year 2010.

The casinos approved today each finished their own public hearing, a process that began earlier this year in each of the respective municipalities with the collection of public input. The three casinos explained to the Board that they would create over 1,300 new full-time jobs to support their expansions into table games. In addition, each informed the Board that it has the financial wherewithal to pay the state-mandated $16.5 million table games fee by June 1st of this year and will dedicate millions of additional dollars toward construction at their facilities to accommodate table games.

Senate Bill 711, now Act 1 of 2010, provides authorization for existing Pennsylvania casinos to conduct table games through the filing of a petition with, and approval by, the Gaming Control Board. As of today, nine Category 1 and 2 operating casinos, along with one Category 2 casino being built in Philadelphia, have petitioned the Board to operate table games. Hearings have been held in the municipalities where a casino operates for seven of the petitions. All information on the table games public hearings is available by clicking of the Table Games Public Input Hearings link on the home page of the Gaming Control Board’s web site, www.pgcb.state.pa.us.

Each Category 1 and 2 facility approved by the Board can conduct gaming at up to 250 tables in addition to operating up to 5,000 slot machines.

Details of Mount Airy Casino Resort Table Games Startup Proposal:

Banking Games – 56 total consisting of 34 Blackjack tables, 2 Craps tables, 4 Roulette tables, 4 Three-Card Poker tables, 2 Pai Gow Tile tables, 2 Pai Gow Poker tables, 2 Let It Ride tables and 4 Baccarat tables
Non-Banking Games – 12 Poker tables
Additional Jobs to be Created by Table Games – 480 total consisting of 330 full-time and 150 part-time
Renovations of gaming facility which will employ an addition 75-100 construction workers
Table Games Training – provided at off-site facility

Details of Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course Table Games Startup Proposal:

Banking Games – 40 total consisting of 20 Blackjack tables, 4 Craps tables, 4 Roulette tables, 2 Baccarat tables, and 10 tables for other games
Non-Banking Games – 12 Texas hold ‘em/Stud Poker tables
Additional Jobs to be Created by Table Games – 439 total consisting of 331 full-time and 108 part-time
Estimated yearly taxes generated to Commonwealth and local governments from table play - $4.9 million
Table Games Training – provided at facility

Details of Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem Table Games Startup Proposal:

Banking Games – 77 total consisting of 41 Blackjack tables, 4 Craps tables, 4 Roulette tables, 4 Three-Card Poker tables, 5 Mini Baccarat tables, 4 Midi Baccarat tables, 4 Pai Gow Poker tables, 1 Big Six table, 2 Let It Ride tables, 2 Caribbean Stud tables, 4 Texas Hold’em Bonus Poker tables, 1 Casino War table, and 1 Sic Bo table
Non-Banking Games – 12 Poker tables
Additional Jobs to be Created by Table Games – 393 full-time
Renovations of gaming facility which will employ an addition 100 construction workers
Table Games Training – provided at facility

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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