Penn National Considers Construction of Slots Casino on Airport Property
Penn National Gaming, Inc., a prominent slots gaming operator, and UCH Venture Capital, a Philadelphia-based investor, are currently considering the option to acquire a 15-acre lot adjacent to Queen City Airport in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and have also expressed interest in purchasing the 208-acre airfield property for a potential slots casino.
George Doughty, executive director of Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority, the owner of Queen City, said that the two developers are willing to pay $10 million for the airport property. Doughty also said that, although he thinks that the smaller lot would be enough for a slots casino, Penn officials believe that purchasing the airport property would improve their chances of obtaining the stand-alone slots license the company has been seeking.
If Penn decides to submit its casino proposal, it would be the second investor seeking to construct a slots facility in Allentown. City officials have expressed a positive attitude towards the second slots proposal, for they estimated that the local government would collect considerable sums of money in casino host fees. The list of other casino companies applying for a license to operate slots in Pennsylvania includes such gaming giants as Aztar Corp. and Las Vegas Sands.
