Despite making a bunch of hifalutin’ noises about the unconstitutionality of mini-casinos in Pennsylvania, who else but Penn National Gaming won the first license. It did so by virtue of insane overkill, bidding $50 million and change for a license valued at $7.5 million. (It will pay another $2.5 million for the privilege of having table games.) In doing 
so, it outbid three other (undisclosed) competitors, one of which is believed to have been Sands Bethlehem. Penn’s chosen location is Yoe, in York County. “We are going to be in cross-border competition and hope to penetrate even deeper into Maryland than we have thus far,” said Penn mouthpiece Eric Schippers of Yoe, which is 10 miles from the Free State’s northern border and just off I-83. (Actual penetration of Maryland, at Hollywood Casino Perryville, has been a distinct failure.)
Penn’s whopping bid doesn’t mean that its lawsuit is going away, even if it’s now effectively suing against itself. Schippers acknowledged as much, saying that “as reflected by our pending federal lawsuit against the [mini-casino] provisions in the Gaming Act, we’re not happy to have to be in the situation of paying this much to help protect our flank at Hollywood Casino [in Harrisburg]. The Gaming Act put us in the perverse position of having to essentially bid 
against ourselves to protect our market share in Central Pennsylvania … Frankly, it was an investment we felt like we had to make to protect a major market area for our casino. That cannibalization would have been, in our view, very significant, which is why we filed our federal lawsuit against the law.” Although cities that have opted out have a one-time chance to opt back in, Penn says it will focus on those who have declared themselves willing to host a casino. So prepare yourself for Hollywood Chanceford or Empress Shrewsbury.
* On May 1, say goodbye to Greektown Hotel-Casino in Detroit and say hello (ugh!) to Jack Detroit Casino-Hotel. It’s unlikely that Jack will prove to be anything other than a perpetual also-ran by another name. The rebranding hasn’t done jack for Dan Gilbert‘s casinos in Ohio, so emulating it in Michigan seems like a lot of expense for no gain. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If Stanley Ho built a casino in America it would be Greektown.
* Add The Cromwell to the list of soft targets on the Las Vegas Strip. A trio of thieves made off with casino chips and fled on foot, needles in a pedestrian haystack. Good luck catching them, Metro.
* With the Golden Globes and Critics Choice awards behind us, if you’ve got Gary Oldman in your office Oscar pool you’re looking prescient — and let’s face it: The field is basically Oldman andsomeotherpeople. The (well-merited) groundswell for Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri has taken me by pleasant surprise, though. Is it too late to dump stock in Sally Hawkins and reinvest in Frances McDormand‘s chances?
