Penn National Gaming today delivered its formal application to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission for a Category 2 gaming license for its proposed Plainridge Park Casino located in Plainville, MA. Penn National is proposing a $225 million fully integrated racing and gaming operation located at the current Plainridge Race Track.
Penn National's Plainridge Park Casino proposal includes a fully-integrated 106,000 square foot racing and gaming facility featuring live harness racing and simulcasting, a 44,260 square foot gaming floor with 1,250 slot machines, a high-end casual dining restaurant, the first-ever Doug Flutie Sports Bar, a four-venue food court, multi-purpose banquet room, entertainment lounge and casino bar, 1,620 structured and surface parking spaces, 26,000 square foot grandstand with box and reserved seats, and 13,000 square foot clubhouse with box seats. The project is expected to create 1,000 construction related jobs and employ over 500 people, more than 90 per cent of whom will be hired from the local area.
"We are very excited to submit our formal application to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, and are confident that our proposal will create the best opportunities in the Commonwealth for the sole Category 2 gaming license," said Tim Wilmott, President and Chief Operating Officer of Penn National Gaming. "As the largest owner of both regional gaming and pari-mutuel racing facilities in the country, Penn National has established a strong track record of developing racing facilities into successful racing and gaming entertainment operations. Our facilities benefit local horsemen, local communities and all state residents through economic development leading to the creation of new jobs and new tax revenues."
Conveniently located one exit west of the I-495 /I-95 interchange, the proposed Plainridge Park Casino facility is within a 10 minute drive of four major entertainment venues -- Gillette Stadium at Patriot Place, Wrentham Village Premium Outlets, TPC Boston, and the Comcast Center in Mansfield.
Mr. Wilmott added, "Significantly, our project is ideally located to recapture gaming dollars that are now going to Rhode Island and Connecticut, and it will save live harness racing in the Commonwealth and the thousands of acres of green open space and jobs dependent on the industry. As North America's largest regional gaming operator, we have the experience, knowledge and financial resources to optimize this project as an economic engine for the region and the state."
"Penn National began as a single racetrack operator in Pennsylvania and a major part of our long-term growth is based on our success in helping revitalize racetracks like Plainridge," said Wilmott. "Plainridge Racecourse is the only harness racetrack operating in the Commonwealth and an important element of our proposal is our ability to save live harness racing and the many hundreds of jobs and thousands of acres of open space that the industry supports. We've experienced firsthand the type of revitalization that can occur when you blend slot machine entertainment with the excitement of live horse racing. In Bangor, Maine, for example, the addition of slot machines at Bangor Historic Raceway has resulted in racing purses nearly tripling and the number of race days doubling and we have generated similar results in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and other markets throughout the country."
Earlier this week, Penn National filed an application with the Gaming Commission to hold 100 races in 2014, which includes a long term agreement with the Harness Horsemen Association of New England. Continued racing at Plainridge will help support the 72 horse farms located throughout the Commonwealth. On October 2, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission unanimously ruled that Penn National Gaming was suitable to hold a gaming license in the Commonwealth.
(Penn National Gaming)