Pennsylvania restarting auction process for sixth satellite casino license

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is reportedly set to hold another auction for the eastern state’s sixth satellite casino license after last year’s previous attempted sale drew no bids.

According to a report from The Patriot-News newspaper, legislation ratified in 2017 allowed the regulator to license up to ten miniature casinos featuring a maximum of 750 slots and 40 gaming tables. Although the first five such authorizations were snapped up at separate auctions in 2018, the entire process was temporarily postponed in September after the ensuing sixth authorization received no bids.

Purse paucity:

However, The Patriot-News reported that the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has now been officially ordered to restart the stalled satellite casino license auctions in order to help refill public coffers being rapidly depleted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Pennsylvania purportedly earned approximately $111 million from the previous five rounds and is now hopeful that at least one bidder will be able to meet the minimum $7.5 million asking price for the sixth authorization.

Party prerequisites:

The newspaper reported that the coming auction for Pennsylvania’s sixth satellite casino license has been scheduled for September 2 with interested bidders set to moreover be required to simultaneously propose a location for their envisioned venue and agree to pay an annual gaming revenue tax that is among the highest in the nation.

Limited locales:

Pennsylvania is already home to twelve casinos while the auction rules reportedly furthermore mandate that the new satellite facilities must be located at least 40 miles away from any existing or coming gambling property. Such a stipulation has purportedly had the effect of limiting the field of available sites for the sixth such miniature venue to largely rural areas such as the strip of land that runs alongside the Ohio border between the cities of Pittsburgh and Erie.

Profitable pastime:

Citing information provided by the American Gaming Association and The Patriot-News reported that ‘The Keystone State’ generated a national best $1.5 billion in taxes from casinos last year after coming second behind Nevada in terms of annual aggregated casino revenues at $3.4 billion.