PA Gaming Control Board Renews Casino Operator's License For Presque Isle Downs

HARRISBURG: The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board today unanimously voted to renew the Category 1 casino operator’s license of Presque Isle Downs, Inc., operator of the Presque Isle Downs & Casino in Erie County.

The seven member Board determined that Presque Isle Downs had fulfilled the obligations under its initial casino operator’s license and therefore qualified to have its license renewed. The new license is good for a three-year period.

Today’s decision was based on a process utilized by the Board that enables both the operator and the public to provide information relevant to the renewal decision. A public input hearing was held for Presque Isle on May 3, 2011 at the Summit Township Building in Erie County. At the hearing, Presque Isle Downs & Casino operators submitted exhibits and presented testimony on various aspects of its operation since opening to the public in February of 2007. The public was also permitted to provide testimony on the casino and its impact in the community.

In reaching its decision, the Board also reviewed testimony received at the hearing from local government officials, a horseman’s organization, and the PA State Police, along with the Gaming Control Board’s Office of Enforcement Counsel, Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement, Office of Compulsive and Problem Gaming, and Casino Compliance. Each testified as to Presque Isle’s performance since receiving its initial operator’s license.

Additionally, a public hearing was held in Harrisburg today, July 20, 2011, to permit Board members to further question Presque Isle Downs representatives about any remaining issues prior to voting on the renewal. A PowerPoint presentation provided at today’s meeting is available on the Board’s web site, www.pgcb.state.pa.us, under the Board Meetings tab.

To date, Presque Isle Downs & Casino has generated over $725 million in gross revenue from nearly four and half years of slot machine play and an additional $20 million of gross revenue after its first year of offering table games. Total tax revenue generated and returned to the citizens of Pennsylvania from the combined play of slots and tables is approximately $403 million. The casino has also paid the Commonwealth a combined $66.5 million in fees for its slot machine and table games licenses.

The casino and racetrack operations together currently employ over 1,050 persons.

The next meeting of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is scheduled for Thursday, August 18, 2011 in Hearing Room 1 of the North Office Building in Harrisburg. The meeting will begin at 10:00 a.m. and the public is invited.

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. Currently, the ten casinos in operation in the Commonwealth employ over 14,000 people and legalized gaming has generated $5.3 billion in tax and license fee revenue since the first casino opened in November 2006. A portion of that money is enabling property tax reduction for all Pennsylvania homeowners, providing needed funding to the Commonwealth’s horse racing industry, funding grants for fire companies and water/sewer projects, and establishing a new stream of tax revenue to local governments for 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.

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