On Wednesday, December 22, 2021, Hollywood casino Morgantown will officially open its doors to clients. In April 2020, Penn National Gaming (PNG) secured Category 4 satellite casino license in a bid for $10.5 million, resulting in building Hollywood casino Morgantown. It was the second time Penn National Gaming won an auction.
The casino is located off Pennsylvania Turnpike at the I-176 interchange. PNG chose Morgantown as the location of its mini-casino.
The casino occupies 80,000 square feet and holds a Barstool Sportsbook, 750 slot machines, and 30 table games. The property also has a top-notch climate-conditioned outdoor gambling venue and three eateries.
The other Penn Gaming satellite casino is Hollywood York. It is housed in a former Sears department store.
Considering About Allowing Smoking in the Premises
With a climate-conditioned outdoor gaming area, people assume that the casino will not allow any smoking on the property. However, officials from the casino said that the casino has yet to finalize its decision to allow tobacco products on its premises or some parts of the casino space.
Jeff Morris of Penn National said the firm was yet to determine the final floor design. Jeff, the vice president of the company’s public affairs, said that he would reveal more details about it during a pre-launch event in several weeks to come.
The 2008 Pennsylvania’s Clean Indoor Air Act does not oblige casinos to operate under the guidelines stated in the act. This allows casino businesses to set aside up to 50 percent of their floor for smoking.
Penn National Has Heavily Invested in the Community
Initially, Penn National Gaming did not agree with the state’s 2017 gaming expansion. The bill allowed satellite casinos, sports betting, online casinos, daily fantasy sports, airport gaming lounges, and truck video gaming spots.
Penn did not like the language used about satellites. These casinos fell under Category 4 casinos and could host only 30 table games and 750 slot machines. Moreover, locals could choose not to have a satellite casino which led to all opting out, with only Springettsbury Township in York County not opting out.
As the county is situated along I-83, Penn felt it was necessary to invest in the community by spending $50 million to get the York County spot for a satellite casino. Penn National said it had to invest the money to secure a good market for the operator’s Hollywood Penn National Race Course casino.
By the time Hollywood Casino York launched, the casino operator had invested $120 million. Penn has also noted that it has spent about $111 million, including over $10 million for operating licenses.
Pennsylvania’s Casino Market
Pennsylvania stands at third place behind Nevada and New Jersey in the gaming industry in the country. While demand for expanding gaming options increases, it has not affected land-based casinos.
In the last four months, gross gaming revenue reached over $400 million each month. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board Communications Director Doug Harbach noted that with the launch of another casino in December, it was expecting revenue collection in retail casinos would rise.
Even with iGaming, monthly revenue from land-based casinos has increased as compared with 2019. In October, land-based casinos had a combined winning of $292.4 million. This was a 34 percent increase in October 2020.
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