Work begins at Penn National next week. Opening set for 2008.
By Tom Murse
Updated Jul 13, 2007 14:51
Start saving your spare change now, gamblers.
Construction of the nearest slots parlor to Lancaster County will begin next week, at Penn National Race Course north of Hershey.
Penn National Gaming will open the five-story, 2,000-machine casino in the first months of 2008, its chairman and chief executive officer told Wall Street analysts Friday.
The casino will be built at the racetrack in Grantville, about 40 miles northwest of Lancaster City. It is along Route 743 about nine miles north of Hershey, in Dauphin County.
The Hollywood Casino, as it's called, will cost $310 million, far more than the original $262 million estimate. That includes $50 million for a state gaming license.
Penn National Gaming Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Peter Carlino, in a written statement, blamed the additional expenses on higher costs for construction materials and a refinement of development plans, according to the Central Penn Business Journal.
"We remain highly confident that Hollywood Casino will prove to be an exciting entertainment destination for patrons," Carlino said. His company is based in Wyomissing, Berks County.
Penn National Gaming is the fourth-largest publicly traded gambling company in the United States. It owns and operates 16 casino and horse-racing facilities at 13 locations in the United States and Canada.
Its Grantville racetrack is one of seven in Pennsylvania, including those in Philadelphia and Chester, expected to receive Category 1 slot-machine licenses from the state. Those are designated for racetracks only.
The Penn National casino could potentially hold 3,000 slot machines, The Patriot-News of Harrisburg reported.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is scheduled to hold a hearing on the company's license request at 9 a.m. on Aug. 9.
In February, the gaming board unanimously rejected an application to open a $150 million slots parlor in downtown Lancaster. The board cited deficiencies in the application, namely the absence of a signed bond for $50 million, the cost of a slots license.
Two Lancaster attorneys behind the project, Jerome C. Finefrock and James A. Nettleton Jr., wanted to install as many as 5,000 slot machines in the Bulova Technologies building at North Queen and Orange streets.
The state gambling law allows 61,000 slot machines at 14 venues, including five freestanding slots parlors. The attorneys unsuccessfully sought a license for a freestanding parlor. They did not appeal the board's rejection, and the proposal died.
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