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Casino applicant appeals
Appeal filed in Pa. Surpreme Court

BY SCOT ANDREW PITZER
Times Staff Writer Gettysburg Times

Gettysburg casino investors announced Monday that they are appealing a decision to award a gaming license to a competing project.

The appeal is filed with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and disputes the recently-awarded Category Three resort casino license, to the Nemacolin Resort in Fayette County.

Mason Dixon Resort & Casino spokesman David La Torre wrote in a press release that state gambling regulators “misapplied the Gaming Act and state law, deprived Mason Dixon of its due process rights, and disregarded or failed to consider the evidence presented” when they chose the Nemacolin Resort for the license, over the Eisenhower Inn in Cumberland Township.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board selected the Nemacolin Resort in Fayette County for the license in mid-April, over three competitors, including the Mason Dixon Resort Group, led by Gettysburg businessman David LeVan and Florida lawyer Joseph Lashinger. The vote was 6-1, with one board member supporting a competing project in the Poconos.

Investors in Mechanicsburg, Penn Harris Gaming, and the Bushkill Group in the Poconos also applied for the license, which permits up to 600 slot machines and 50 table games at “well-established” hotel resorts.

Based on previous gaming appeals, it could take a year before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rules on the litigation. As a result, developers will not be able to break ground on the $75 million Nemacolin Resort until the legal battle is resolved.

Monday was the final day to file an appeal on the April 14 decision, and subsequent written adjudication, explaining the decision. Representatives from Penn Harris Gaming and the Bushkill Group have said that they are not filing an appeal.

Gaming Control Board spokesman Richard McGarvey explained that all of the standalone Category Two casino projects have been appealed in the past, as well as the other resort casino Category Three license, that was awarded to Valley Forge. No horsetrack casinos (Category One licenses) have been appealed.

The Gaming Control Board wrote that it selected the 2,000-acre Nemacolin Resort because it was the “best fit” for the license, and that it had the best potential to generate and maximize new revenues for the state.

LeVan and Lashinger proposed converting the 300-room Eisenhower Inn and adjoining All-Star Sports Complex along Emmitsburg Road south of Gettysburg into a $75 million resort casino. The Category Three resort casino license permits up to 600 slot machines and 50 table games, and patrons must be guests of the resort, or obtain a membership.

Opposition was cited for a reason for denying the Cumberland Township casino. No Casino Gettysburg spokeswoman Susan Star Paddock said Monday that she was saddened to see Gettysburg casino investors “chasing their losses.” She called the appeal a “colossal waste of time and money for the investors, the state, the taxpayers and our entire community.”

Casino supporters in Adams County have touted economic benefits and new jobs, and remain hopeful that a license will be awarded here.

Two weeks ago, Mason Dixon Resort filed a “motion of reconsideration” with the Gaming Control Board, asking gambling regulators to revisit the licensing process. But the request was denied one day later, leading to Monday’s appeal.