Gaming Control Board gives green-light to mini-casino in Shippensburg
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The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board Wednesday voted unanimously to award a license to GW Cumberland Op. Co., (Greenwood Gaming & Entertainment Inc., operator of Parx Casino) to construct a Category 4 casino in Shippensburg Township, Cumberland County. The casino will be located in the former Lowe’s building on South Conestoga Drive.
While many township officials and residents are in favor of the casino bringing much-needed revenue to the township, as well as bolstering the local economy, others fear the casino will bring more crime and drugs to the area, as well as leave residents struggling with gambling addictions.
The award concludes a process the board began on Feb. 22, 2018, when Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment Inc. secured the right to locate a casino with a winning bid of $8,111,000 at the fourth Category 4 auction held by the board. They filed an application with the board later that year to locate a newly constructed facility just off Exit 29 of Interstate 81, but later amended the application to place the casino in the former Lowe’s Home Supply store in the Shippen Town Center in the same municipality.
Subsequently, the board conducted an in-depth background investigation of the application along with the collection of public input from citizens, community groups and public officials at hearings held in Shippensburg Township on March 25, 2019, and a second on May 20, 2021, following the applicant’s change of location of the proposed casino. Wednesday, prior to its vote, the board held a final licensing hearing in which representatives of GW Cumberland Op. Co. were questioned by board members about the project.
A Category 4 Slot Machine License permits the entity to operate between 300 and 750 slot machines. The entity could also petition for permission to initially operate up to 30 table games for an additional fee of $2.5 million with the capability of adding an additional 10 tables games after its first year of operation. That table games certificate was also approved today by the board at its public meeting.
According to information presented to the board, Parx Casino Shippensburg will offer at opening within its 73,000 square foot facility:
- 500 slot machines
- electronic tables games
- a restaurant and sports bar facility
The facility, which will be non-smoking, expects to create 175 construction jobs and is targeting a late 2022 opening. When that occurs, Parx Casino Shippensburg would expect to have more than 125 full-time equivalent permanent jobs. The casino also plans to offer sports wagering in the future.
