State College Casino Hearing Delayed by Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board
Posted on: October 18, 2022, 11:19h.
Last updated on: October 19, 2022, 10:34h.
The planned Bally’s State College casino hearing scheduled for Wednesday, October 19, regarding a request to intervene from a rival gaming operator in the state has been delayed by at least a month. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) said Tuesday that more time is needed before considering the request to intervene.
Bally’s hopes to transform the former Macy’s department store at the Nittany Mall into a Category 4 “mini-casino.” The proposed venue would have as many as 750 slot machines, 30 table games, and a sportsbook.
Many residents in the State College community, which is home to Penn State University’s main campus, have voiced strong opposition to the gaming development. The community outcry led to the College Township Council having a change of heart from previously supporting the casino.
College Township councilors are reviewing their legal options to block the $123 million development. The local government earlier this month decided against spending taxpayer money to conduct a thorough review as to what sort of negative consequences and societal harms a casino might bring Happy Valley.
Township Solicitor Louis Glantz recommended the council against the study.
“Attempting to persuade a state agency to circumvent the developer’s approval would be an intentional attempt to interfere with the land development approval,” Glantz advised. “The ramifications of such interference by the municipality could, and likely would, result in a civil suit against the township.”
Delay Unrelated to Opposition
Those in the State College community speaking out regarding the Bally’s initiative have overwhelmingly opposed the plan. Of the nearly 5,000 submitted letters and emails to the PGCB, all but about 100 have been against the casino.
With College Township deciding not to opt-out of Category 4 consideration before the Jan. 1, 2018 deadline, and with the Nittany Mall meeting zoning requirements, there’s seemingly little legal recourse for the local government.
The PGCB will in due time consider the merits of the Bally’s project and vote on issuing the Rhode Island-based firm a gaming license. Tomorrow’s planned hearing regarding the State College project was to review Baltimore-based Cordish Companies’ request to intervene in the process.
Cordish, which operates Live! casinos in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, was outbid by Bally’s during the state’s fifth Category 4 auction round in September 2020. But Bally’s wasn’t actually the high bidder. That honor fell to Penn State alum and former trustee Ira Lubert. Lubert qualified to bid because he holds a 3% ownership position in Rivers Casino Pittsburgh.
Lubert, soon after securing College Township for a mini-casino after winning the auction round with a $10 million bid, partnered with Bally’s for the undertaking. Cordish alleges that Lubert and Bally’s partnered prior to the auction round and, therefore, submitted a bid as an unqualified entity.
Only companies holding gaming licenses, as well as key stakeholders in current casinos, were eligible to participate in the September 2020 auction round.
State Response
As to why the State College casino request to intervene matter was removed from Wednesday’s meeting, PGCB spokesperson Doug Harbach said the board requires additional time.
There have been numerous documents filed in this matter which need to be reviewed by all parties, including the Gaming Control Board,” Harbach told StateCollege.com. “As a result, the board is not comfortable moving forward with a hearing this month.”
The Nittany Mall where Bally’s hopes to open a casino is less than two miles from the Penn State campus.
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Last Comments ( 8 )
Clearly everyone is on the same page, let’s build this casino. Also while we are at it let’s build a day care program in the mall so I can drop my kids off at it while I degenerately gamble.
There is strong opposition against the casino in the community. As a residents, I do not want it here. College Township does regret the decision to allow it especially with so many of their residents unhappy.
This sums it up perfectly: "Locals from the State College community, home of Penn State University’s main campus, opposed Bally’s plan for a casino. This led to a change in the College Township Council’s opinion, which, prior to that, supported the idea of the casino." The township now regrets their initial decision to support the casino.
Thanks for publishing this article. We the people of State College will keep fighting and College Township will wonder why they didn't let their people vote on this. They are just trying to push something over on us and it will show at the polls. We will keep fighting.
Penn State University stonewalled the community and refused to speak out against the proposed Nittany Mall casino in State College. The elected officials in College Township and the Centre County Commissioners did exactly that same thing and refused to speak out in opposition to the chaos a casino would bring to Happy Valley. The casino's four crafty developers and Bally's Corporation will be disappointed to watch as their winning bid is negated in court. The Cordish Companies will prevail and they will build their Category 4 casino in a different Pennsylvania location that is far away from our bucolic college town of State College.
How will Bally's public image be affected by the spectacle of them forcing their casino onto a community that clearly does not want it? Intimidating the local government into silence with the threat of a lawsuit may allow them to move forward with this development now, but other host municipalities will not be so eager to partner with them in the future...
Bally's and the casino developers in the State College area never realized they would be impacted by the formidable legal battle posed by the Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin & Schiller law firm based in Philadelphia. When the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board said this week, "The board is not comfortable moving forward with a hearing this month," that was code for "We really never anticipated this would escalate to and then languish in the Commonwealth Court for more than one year, so we really are not sure what to do next or how."
Mark your calendars now! This ongoing fight with the Bally's casino planned for State College will continue into 2023!