Bucks County, it’s only a matter of time until you can shuffle up and deal.
This past week, Penn National Gaming, Inc. announced that its second Category 4 satellite casino will be located in Caernarvon Township in Bucks County. Its name is Hollywood Casino Morgantown.
Timothy J. Wilmott, Penn National’s CEO, made the following statement via press release:
“While we explored numerous locations for our Category 4 casino in and around Berks County, the site we selected is unparalleled in terms of ease of access to three major arteries. Hollywood Casino Morgantown is ideally situated to generate new revenues from the more densely populated suburbs to the west of Philadelphia, while further protecting our existing market share at Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course.”
The announcement ended the mystery of Penn National’s second satellite casino. It was the only remaining license that had not submitted plans to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB)
The Bucks County casino is the second of two satellites Penn National will build. The other location, Hollywood Casino York, will go in open retail space at York Galleria.
Details about Hollywood Casino Morgantown
Per PA gambling laws, satellite casinos are allowed up to 750 slot machines and 30 table games the first year. there is also the option to add 10 additional table games the second year.
Penn National said they’re launching with 750 slots and 30 table games.
Here are further details about their property. Unlike Hollywood Casino York, this mini-casino will go on an empty lot. The project should create around 250 jobs.
- The building process will create around 275 construction jobs
- Construction should take about 18 months
- Caernarvon Township gets two percent of gross slots revenue and one percent of table games revenue.
- 80,000 square-feet in size
According to the release, the project will cost $111 million, which includes the roughly $10 million in licensing fees.
Hollywood Casino York details
This past September, Penn National revealed plans for its other mini-casino license. The company will open a satellite property inside an old Sears in York Galleria Mall.
This option wasn’t turnkey. However, it did present Penn National the ability to use an existing building rather having to build from the ground up as they will at Hollywood Casino Morgantown.
This nuance to their plans is considerably cheaper for Penn National. Without licensing fees, the York casino will cost around $67 million, which is about $33 million less than their Berks County casino.
An article from the Reading Eagle included the following quote from Wilmott about the York County project:
“We believe the York Galleria Mall, which is a well-known retail destination in York County, is an ideal site for our planned Hollywood Casino York. We explored numerous other potential opportunities within York County, but the mall’s convenient location, existing infrastructure, and ample parking, as well as the support of Springettsbury Township officials and the local business community, helped cement our decision.”