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Lawmakers in West Virginia might consider adding table games to casinos there, but a local investor group for a proposed casino near Gettysburg won't comment on the impact such a move would have on business.
"No one knows what's going to happen and it's far too early for anyone to speculate," said Chance Enterprises spokesperson David La Torre.
The owner of Charles Town Races & Slots said Monday it will invest $200 million in the property if West Virginia lawmakers allow the state's four tracks to feature casino-style table games, a company official said.
Chance's proposal for a slot-machine parlor in Pennsylvania, located near Gettysburg at the intersection of routes 15 and 30, would likely draw on some of Charles Town's customers. It will be a comparable distance from Baltimore and Washington, D.C., so the two would compete for gamblers in those areas.
And it's the only applicant for a stand-alone slots parlor to draw on that market.
"As the environment currently stands there is a very good opportunity for the commonwealth of Pennsylvania to approve a casino license for Adams County and tap into a large marketplace," La Torre said,
The owner of the Charles Town racetrack, Penn National Gaming Inc., wants to build a 500-room hotel and a 25,000-square-foot conference center if it were allowed to expand, John Finamore, Penn National's senior vice president of regional operations, told Jefferson County commissioners on Monday.
The Wyomissing, Pa.-based company has already invested about $250 million in the track.
West Virginia track owners say they need to expand their venues to compete with the expansion of slot machines in surrounding states. Tracks currently operate 11,283 slot machines, but Pennsylvania's slots are expected to come on line this year.
But before that, licenses must be awarded, and one criteria for the license will be the ability of the casino to generate revenue. Chance is competing with five other applicants for the two stand-alone slots licenses outside of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The other five are located in the eastern part of the state.
La Torre said Chance's proposal would provide enormous tax relief to Pennsylvania because it would tap into the out-of-state market.
But that market could shrink if more people go to Charles Town. La Torre said rumors about changes to West Virginia laws have been swirling around for months.
"For anyone to suggest that there will be an expansion or changes to the West Virginia law in the near future, for any to suggest changes are imminent, that would simply be misleading and untrue," La Torre said.
In West Virginia, track owners plan to go straight to the public to press for the expansion of state laws to permit casino-style gambling. Lawmakers have debated a bill but have yet to take action.
Finamore told Jefferson County commissioners he expects another table-game bill will be introduced during the Legislature's 2007 regular session.
He also discussed a proposal that would resolve questions about giving local voters the chance to decide the fate of table games in their counties. The proposal has not been discussed with the state's three other tracks, he said.
If voters approve table games, they couldn't reconsider the issue for five years. The five years would give track owners time to recoup their investments in the games, he said.
Racetrack interests have so far given more than $100,000 to legislative candidates for this year's elections, according to an analysis of campaign-finance reports by The Associated Press. Penn National officials, including Finamore, have contributed through the Friends of the Track political-action committee.
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