Last Harness Racing License Issued

The Pennsylvania Harness Racing Commission has unanimously agreed and approved Valley View Downs in Lawrence County for the last of fourteen harness racing licenses. This is especially exciting for the company as this approval all but guarantees them a slot machine license as well.

Initially, the company as well as its competitor was turned down for the license, but then the state Supreme Court overturned that saying that they could reapply for the license. Valley View has now agreed to buy the land that their competitor had purchased from their competitor if they had gotten the license.

Bedford Downs has said that they will continue to work on developing the land around the casino, but does not want to be involved in the casino portion of the finished product. They are willing to let Valley View do whatever they want with the slot machines, while they work on other projects.

By getting the harness racing license, Valley View is now guaranteed that not only will they get the track, but they will also get a slot machine license and will be able to bring in up to 5,000 slot machines on the property. This obviously beats the deadline for the state that says that if they had not found someone suitable for it by July 2009, the license would go towards a stand alone state casino instead.

 

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