Casino news source: Post Gazette - http://www.post-gazette.com
Meadows' temporary casino to open next month
Friday, May 18, 2007
By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau
HARRISBURG -- For more than 10 years, officials at The Meadows in Washington County have watched jealously as gamblers drove along Interstates 79 and 70 and kept going past their racetrack, on their way to two tracks in West Virginia that have slot machines.
They expect that to change in early June, when a $52 million temporary casino opens at The Meadows.
Appearing before the state Gaming Control Board yesterday, Meadows Vice President Michael Graninger said he doesn't yet have an exact date for the public opening, but he will within 10 days or so. And once he does, he's not keeping it a secret.
"We'll get the word out using television, radio and newspapers," he said in an interview afterward.
Before the opening for the public, he said, two "test nights" must be held, to make sure all 1,738 slots are functioning properly and connected to the state's central computer at the Revenue Department in Harrisburg.
For those two nights, Meadows officials won't keep their share of the gross gaming revenue, which is the amount left after winners are paid and the state gets its slots tax revenue. The Meadows' management share will go to two charities, Washington Hospital and the Washington food bank, Mr. Graninger said.
Holding two test nights before a casino officially opens is standard practice in Pennsylvania. It's been done at the four racetrack/casinos already open -- Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, near Wilkes-Barre, Philadelphia Park and Harrah's Chester track and casino, both in the Philadelphia suburbs, and Presque Isle Downs in Erie.
Two gaming board members, Sanford Rivers and Ken McCabe, who are from Pittsburgh, will oversee the test nights and make sure all the gaming equipment is functioning properly.
Mr. Graninger said Meadows officials are eager to open their temporary facility, which they've been trying to get authorized by the state for years.
He said 830 of the 1,738 slots will be penny slots, meaning that by inserting a $20 bill a person gets 2,000 credits for betting.
The temporary Meadows casino is made of two layers of fabric, with aluminum supports. Mr. Graninger wasn't pleased when board Chairman Tad Decker called it "a tent." The structure is air-conditioned and heated and the air is changed every 12 minutes to keep it healthy, Mr. Graninger said.
The temporary casino, which includes a restaurant, cost $22 million, while the slot machines cost an additional $30 million. The Meadows' permanent casino is projected to open in January 2009, he said.
One of the main purposes of the 2004 law that allowed slots at race tracks was to raise revenue to increase horse racing purses, or prize money. The betting "handle,'' or total amount wagered, has been down slightly this year at The Meadows compared with the first three months of 2006, Mr. Graninger said, but that should turn around once slots open.
Robert Soper, chief executive at the Pocono Downs track, said that's what happened at his facility.
In the first three months of 2007, the total amount wagered, both from bettors at Pocono Downs and bets on the facility's races simulcast on closed circuit TV, was $6.3 million, up from $3.8 million last year. And the daily amount of prize money for the first quarter this year was $117,000, up from $69,000 a day in early 2006. |
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