PA Gaming Control Board Renews Casino Operator's License for Parx Casino

HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board today unanimously voted to renew the Category 1 casino operator's license of Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment, Inc., operator of the Parx Casino in Bucks County.

The seven member Board determined that Greenwood Gaming had fulfilled the obligations under its initial casino operator's license and therefore qualified to have its license renewed. The new license is good for a three year period.

Today's decision was based on a process utilized by the Board that enables both the operator and the public to provide information relevant to the renewal decision. A public input hearing was held for Greenwood Gaming on October 14, 2009 at the Bensalem Township Municipal Building. At the hearing, the Parx Casino operators submitted exhibits and presented testimony on its three-year operation in a temporary facility in the Philadelphia Park Race Track grandstand and its move in December of that year into a 128,000 square foot permanent casino situated next to the grandstand.

In reaching its decision, the Board also reviewed testimony received at the public input hearings from local government officials, a horseman's organization and the PA State Police, along with the Gaming Controls Board's Office of Enforcement Counsel, Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement, Auditing Bureau, Office of Compulsive and Problem Gaming, and Casino Compliance.  Each testified as to Greenwood's performance since receiving its initial operator's license.

To date, since its opening in December 2006, Parx Casino has generated nearly $1.3 billion in gross terminal revenue from slot machine play, the highest amount by any of the Pennsylvania casinos, with approximately $710 million returned to the Commonwealth in gaming taxes.  After the recent addition of table games, the casino currently employs over 900 persons.

A public hearing was held in Harrisburg today, September 16, 2010, to permit Board members to further question Greenwood Gaming representatives about any remaining issues prior to deciding on the renewal.

About the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board was established in 2004 with the passage of Act 71, also known as the Race Horse Development and Gaming Act.  Pennsylvania's first new state agency in nearly 40 years, the Gaming Control Board is tasked to oversee all aspects of the state's casino industry.  To date, with nine of a maximum fourteen casinos in operation, legalized gaming in the Commonwealth has created over 8,000 new living wage jobs, revenue that has provided property tax reduction in each of the past three years for all homeowners, funds that have reinvigorated Pennsylvania's horse racing industry, and new revenue to local governments that has funded scores of community projects.  A wealth of information about the Gaming Control Board and Pennsylvania's gaming industry can be found at www.pgcb.state.pa.us.  At this web site, visitors can view videos of Board meetings and the operation of the PGCB, obtain  information on identifying a gambling problem and gaining assistance, look up future meeting schedules and past meeting transcripts, access an interactive map of casino locations, request a speaker for their group, along with much more information.

CONTACT:  Doug Harbach or Richard McGarvey                                                            

(717) 346-8321

SOURCE Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board

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