Pennsylvania Category 4 Casino Siting and Opt-Out

Act 42 of 2017 amended the Pennsylvania Race Horse Development and Gaming Act to add a fourth casino tier alongside the existing racetrack (Category 1), stand-alone (Category 2), and resort (Category 3) licenses. 2. 1(b) layers three separate siting bars on top of the auction: a 25-linear-mile buffer from any existing Category 1, 2, or 3 facility (waived only for an operator siting a Category 4 within 25 miles of its own casino), an outright bar on locating in any county that already hosts a Category 3 facility, and a bar on sixth-class counties bordering a Category 2 host county.

1) gave every municipality a one-time veto: file a resolution with the board by December 31, 2017, and no Category 4 facility can ever locate there. A municipality can later rescind its own prohibition, but the statute makes that a one-way door, once rescinded, the municipality cannot prohibit Category 4 siting again. The board also may license a temporary facility for up to 18 months while a permanent Category 4 site is built, and unlike Category 1-3 facilities, it cannot require a Pennsylvania State Police substation on Category 4 premises.

The Gaming Control Board has since awarded Category 4 licenses in municipalities that did not opt out, including a mini-casino at the Nittany Mall in College Township, Centre County.

These are eligibility bars, not fines: a bid proposing a site inside the 25-mile buffer, a Category 3 host county, or a municipality that filed a timely opt-out resolution is legally ineligible, and the Gaming Control Board must reject it at the licensing stage under § 1305.1(b). A municipality that rescinds its own prohibition to let a casino in cannot later reverse course and prohibit one again.