More Slot Machine Licenses

The State’s gambling regulators have announced that they are opening another application period for two slot machine licenses to be awarded. They would allow for 500 slot machines at each of two resorts, and would cost $5 million apiece for the licenses. The new application period will run from April 20th through June 20th for anyone interested in applying for them.

They have made other changes as well as issuing two more slot machine licenses – the board has agreed that the amount that they were making patrons spend at the resorts before they could go into the casino was too high initially, so they have reduced it from $25 to $10. They wanted to make sure that the casino was actually part of the resort instead of being a stand-alone casino, and they felt that the changes they made would make it easier for the resorts to make more money.

They also felt that it would make the competition tougher to get the slot machine licenses, now that they were more attractive. One more thing they did for themselves though was to make it easier for the board to decide what a resort is and what it isn’t. They changed several things to make that decision easier, including allowing timeshare rooms that got rented to the general public being included in the 275 guest room minimum.

Many resorts say that the new changes have made it more profitable for them, and more attractive for them, so they will probably consider applying for the slot machine license. Split Rock Resort and Fernwood Resort are both in the running; Nemacolin Woods will probably not run again after it dropped out last time over the minimum spending rule; and Seven Springs is not eligible because of their ties to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

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