This week the Gaming Control Board held the fourth of ten auctions for the new Category 4 casinos authorized by Act 42 of 2017.  The new category of casinos are basically smaller versions of Category 2–the stand alone facilities like the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh that are not connected to horse racing (Category 1) or a resort hotel (Category 3).

The Act restricted where Category 4 casinos could go.  They could not be located in counties where Category 3 facilities were (Fayette and Montgomery) or in counties of the sixth class that were adjacent to counties hosting a Category 2 facility (Pike, Wayne, and Carbon).  The Act also allowed municipalities to opt out of having a new facility in its borders.  A Category 4 casino could not be within 25 linear miles of an existing Category 1, 2, or 3 casino unless the winning bidder was one of the existing license holders and wished to put the Category 4 within that area.  There was also a provision defining the buffer for a Category 4 that came into play this week.

The initial winning bid of the fourth Category 4 license was to go to a bidder wishing to locate the casino in Mercer County.  However, two weeks earlier a winning bid had gone to an interest intending to put a casino in Lawrence County, immediately south of Mercer.  And that is when language from the Act defining a Category 4 location as “a specific geographic point established by geographic coordinates in this Commonwealth with a 15 mile linear radius”.  Since the Mercer County bid would have encroached on that area, the fourth license was rebid yesterday and was awarded to a bidder wishing to set up shop in Cumberland County.

The next auction for the fifth license is scheduled for March 7th.