PA Gaming Control Board Renews Casino Operator's License For the Rivers Casino

HARRISBURG: The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board on Wednesday unanimously voted to renew the Category 2 casino operator’s license of Holdings Acquisition Co., LP, operator of the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County.

The seven member Board determined that Holdings Acquisition 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.

Wednesday’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 Holdings Acquisition on May 5, 2011 at the Allegheny County Courthouse. At the hearing, representatives of the licensee submitted exhibits and presented testimony on various aspects on the operation of the Rivers Casino since opening to the public in August of 2009. 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 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 Holdings Acquisition’s performance since receiving its initial operator’s license.

Additionally, a public hearing was held in Harrisburg prior to the Board’s regular meeting on September 14, 2011, to permit Board members to further question Holdings Acquisition 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, the Rivers Casino has generated $515 million in gross revenue during its first two years of slots play and an additional $65 million of gross revenue after its first year of offering table games. Total tax revenue generated and returned to the Commonwealth from the combined play of slots and tables is approximately $293 million. The casino has also paid the Commonwealth a combined $66.5 million in fees for its slot machine and table games licenses.

Through the second quarter of 2011, employment at the Rivers Casino was 1,705 persons.

The next meeting of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is scheduled for Thursday, October 13, 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 almost 15,000 people and legalized slot machine and table gaming has generated $5.4 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.

# # #