Stadium Casino, which operates the Parx Casino in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and which is already set to construct a $600m casino in Philadelphia, was the highest bidder in a state auction for a Category 4 casino in the state.
Of four bids received, the $40,100,005 submitted by Stadium – a joint venture between the Cordish Companies and Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment – was enough to secure the operator a Category 4 location in Derry, Westmoreland County.
Stadium must now pay the bid price to the state within two business days and then has up to six months to submit an application for the Category 4 Slot Machine Licence.
Such a licence would permit the operation of between 300 and 750 slot machines, with the possibility of adding up to 30 table games for an additional fee of $2.5m and 10 more after the first year of operation.
The Stadium selection follows the first auction, held on January 10, which saw Mountainview Thoroughbred Racing Association – operator of Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course – win with a bid of $50.1m. That Category 4 location is centred in the Borough of Yoe in York County.
Both Mountainview and Stadium are now ineligible to bid on additional Category 4 locations during the initial round of auctions, the next of which takes place on Wednesday, February 7.
Auction winners secure the right to apply for a licence at the specified locations with any property to be built within a 15-mile radius of the location and not within a 25-mile radius of existing casino sites.
