The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board will hold an auction for the right to apply for a Category 4 casino license. The announcement was made following the ratification by the Board at its public meeting to re-implement the auction process that ended in April of 2018.
The first auction in this round is scheduled for September 4, 2019 at 10 am just prior to the start of its regularly scheduled Board meeting and will be held in the PGCB’s Public Hearing Room at Strawberry Square in Harrisburg. All current holders of a Category 1, 2 or 3 casino license in Pennsylvania are eligible to participate.
Under the Gaming Expansion Act of 2017, the Gaming Control Board was authorized to award up to 10 Category 4 (satellite) slot machine operator licenses through an auction process which was conducted from January to April 2018, resulting in five successful auctions garnering $127m in bids to secure the right to obtain a Category 4 license.
The Gaming Expansion Act 42 of 2017 established a minimum bid price of $7.5m for Category 4 slot machine licenses. A separate certificate for table games can then be obtained through Board approval for a fee of $2.5m. A Category 4 facility may have between 300 and 750 slot machines along with a maximum of 30 table games at opening with the capability of adding an additional 10 table games after its first year of operation.
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