Written Public Comment Soon Due For Category 3 Resort Gaming Licenses

HARRISBURG: The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is reminding Individuals, elected officials and organizations that deadlines are fast approaching to submit written comment on any or all of the four applications seeking the remaining available Category 3 casino license.

Comments received by these deadlines would be included with earlier submitted public testimony and written comments in the evidentiary record used by the Gaming Control Board members to grant or deny licenses:

October 29, 2010 - Penn Harris Gaming, LP – Hampden Township, Cumberland County
November 1, 2010 - Mason-Dixon Resorts, LP – Cumberland Township, Adams County
November 1, 2010 - Bushkill Group – Middle Smithfield Township, Monroe County
November 8, 2010 - Woodlands Fayette, LLC – Wharton Township, Fayette County

Written comments can be submitted in three manners:

through the Gaming Control Board’s web site, www.pgcb.state.pa.us, by clicking on the Public Input Hearings for Category 3 License link on the home page. The website will not accept written comment after 5:00 pm on the respective deadline dates for each applicant;
by fax to 717-346-8350 by 5:00 pm on the respective deadline dates for each applicant;
via mail with a postmark no later than the respective deadline dates for each applicant to:

PA Gaming Control Board
P.O. Box 69060, Harrisburg, PA 17106
Attention: Board Secretary

Information submitted by each applicant such as local impact reports and diversity plans, are also available on the PGCB web site by choosing the Category 3 Reports and Memorandums link on the home page. Most recently added were pre-hearing memorandums from each applicant that outlines the evidence and arguments that each will present at the November 16-17 public suitability hearings in Harrisburg. All of this information is available to help individuals shape their comments on a project.

The four suitability hearings will be held at the Pennsylvania State Museum located at the corner of Third and North Streets in Harrisburg. The order of appearance before the Board will be determined in early November. The hearings on November 16th will run from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm and 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm, while the November 17th hearings are scheduled for 10:00 am to 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm.

The first of the two Category 3 licenses was awarded to Valley Forge Resort Casino on April 8, 2009. The Valley Forge Resort Casino has indicated it will set an opening date pending the outcome of an appeal of the Board’s licensing decision by Category 1 operator Parx Casino in Bensalem.

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 ten casinos in operation, legalized gaming in the Commonwealth has created over 13,000 new living wage jobs, revenue that has provided property tax reduction in each of the past three years for all homeowners, funds that have reinvigorated Pennsylvania’s horse racing industry, and new revenue to local governments that has funded scores of community projects. 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, visitors can view videos of Board meetings and on the operation of the PGCB, obtain information on identifying a gambling problem and gaining assistance, look up future meeting schedules and past meeting transcripts, access an interactive map of casino locations, request a speaker for their group, along with much more information.

# # #