Like the auctions before it, there was a yellow box at the front of the room reading, “Bids,” and an adjacent red box labeled, “Locations.”
But the boxes were empty when the clock struck 10 a.m. Wednesday in Harrisburg, forcing the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to cancel its latest mini-casino auction and any additional auctions for the remaining five licenses.
Last year, between January and April 2018, the gaming board conducted five successful auctions, collecting $127 million in bids and easily surpassing the $100 million the state estimated could be raised if all 10 auctions were held.
Mount Airy won the state’s third mini-casino auction for about $21.2 million and selected land in Beaver County, a location that borders Ohio and offers the chance to lure out-of-state gamblers. The status of that project is unclear.
The plan includes a 103,000-square-foot casino and destination development. The casino would have 750 slot machines, 30 table games, a 225-seat buffet, a food court with three venues, a 125-seat sports bar and restaurant, a casino feature bar and a coffee outlet.
Penn National Gaming won the first and the fifth auction last year, dropping a total of $57.6 million to pick locations that would help protect its existing Hollywood Casino in Dauphin County while also pushing deeper into new markets.
The state’s luck ran out April 18, 2018. An auction ended without any bids and it was up to the gaming board to decide whether to conduct an additional auction round open to all existing casino licensees in Pennsylvania as well as any other qualified entities.
The board on July 10 announced the auctions would return Sept. 4, after a signed-into-law amendment in the fiscal code included a provision that ordered the board to conduct up to five more auctions for the remaining licenses by the end of the year.
But if no qualified bids are received, the auctions will end.
The provision also widened the mileage protection around the state’s existing facilities. The provision says a mini-casino can’t be within 40 miles of the state’s existing or planned casino locations — the original 2017 law provided a 25-mile protective radius.
So far two of the five mini-casinos in the works have been awarded a license from the board. Penn National got the OK in June for its planned Hollywood Casino Morgantown in Caernarvon Township, Berks County, a facility it hopes to open in late 2020. Then, on Aug. 14, The Cordish Cos. received the green light for its Live! Casino Pittsburgh, a $150 million project that will be developed at the Westmoreland Mall.
Morning Call reporter Jon Harris can be reached at 610-820-6779 or at jon.harris@mcall.com.