Pennsylvania Mini Casino Auction Fails to a Attract a Bid

An auction for the sixth mini casino license was held on Wednesday but attracted no bids. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board announced they would make a decision on whether to hold a subsequent round at a later date.

In making their decision, the PGCB will determine if it is in the best interests of the state to hold additional rounds that could potentially open bidding for all Pennsylvania gaming license holders as well as any other yet-to-be-determined qualified entity.

Five Mini Casino Licenses Awarded Thus Far

During the initial round of auctions, four licenses were awarded. Once that round concluded without a bid, resort casinos as well as casinos that already bid on a license would be eligible. That round led to Penn National acquiring their second mini-casino license at bid of just over $7,500,003, just above the minimum. Wednesday’s auction was for the second license during the second round.

Below is a summary of the mini-casino licenses awarded thus far:

Pennsylvania Mini Casino License Recipients
Date	Organization	Bid	Location
Jan 10, 2024	Mountainview Thoroughbred Racing Association (Penn National)	$50.1 Million	Yoe, York County
Jan 24, 2024	Stadium LLC (owns Phily Live! project)	$40.1 Million	Derry, Westmoreland County
February 8, 2024	Mount Airy	$21.2 Million	New Castle, Lawrence County
February 24, 2024	Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment Inc. (Parx)	$8.1 Million	South Newton Township, Cumberland County
April 4, 2024	Mountainview Thoroughbred Racing Association (Penn National)	$7.5 Million	West Cocalico, Lancaster County

What’s Next

By all accounts, the Pennsylvania mini-casino — or Category 4 — license process has been a huge success. The state has so far raised over $127 million from bids over five auctions, an average of over $25 million per license. With minimum bids starting at $7.5 million, the state is $50 million over the figure if all ten of the allocated licenses were to go for the minimum.

Before bidding began, the state estimated that it would raise $100 million if all ten licenses were awarded.

Should the PGCB decide to hold additional auctions, the regulatory body would establish criteria for Round 3 of the auctions. Given the original auction schedule, that will likely be announced over the coming weeks.