A second attempt for a Gettysburg-area casino officially began Wednesday when a group of investors submitted to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board its application seeking a license for the Mason-Dixon Resort and Casino.
Gettysburg businessman David LeVan is leading an effort to bring 600 slot machines and table games to the Eisenhower Resort and Convention Center in Cumberland Township.
Selling points are jobs and geography. The investors say proximity to Maryland will tap a whole new market. But critics point to Gettysburg’s historic past. The thought of a casino near the land where the blue and gray clashed has them seeing red.
“Would you want a casino at our national sites like Shanksville, where the September 11 crash happened?” said Jim Paddock of the group No Casino Gettysburg. “It wouldn’t be appropriate. It’s not appropriate at Gettysburg.”
A handful of protesters showed up at a Gaming Control Board meeting in Harrisburg even though their issue wasn’t on the agenda. Board spokesman Doug Harbach said the concerns of residents will be heard before a decision is made.
“We’ll hear from all the citizens, the public officials, and they’ll know when we come into the town to collect that information. We’ll be very transparent with the process,” Harbach said.
abc27 has learned that Gettysburg has picked Penn National to operate its casino, meaning they’ve joined forces with what could have been an enemy. If history is a guide, they’ll need as many allies as they can find because there is plenty of resistance.
“This is not the place to do this,” Paddock said. “We’re a small rural town. It’s just not the place.”
An earlier attempt to build a much bigger casino was rejected in 2006.
Wednesday was the deadline to apply for Pennsylvania’s final resort casino license, which allows up to 600 slot machines and 50 table games.
Mason Dixon will compete with four others, including a group that applied for a license to operate a casino at the Holiday Inn Harrisburg West in Hampden Township, Cumberland County.
The Gaming Control Board also has applications from Nemacolin Woodland Resort and Spa in southwestern Pennsylvania, Fernwood Hotel and Resort in the Poconos, and the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Reading.
