Gaming expansion is creeping forward in Pennsylvania. The state Senate has passed and sent to the House a bill that would add 10 satellite casinos to the Keystone State. Eldorado Resorts‘ Presque Isle Downs would be juiced in for one (boy, do they have a good 
lobbyist) while existing casino operators would have to get into a scrum for the remaining nine licenses. None of the satellites could be built within 25 miles of an extant casino (Presque Isle excepted), which might be good for cities like Johnstown, which were excluded when the first round of casino licenses were handed out. The special arrangement with Eldorado is meant to palliate the House’s displeasure with the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority, which a previous bill would have dismantled.
Slot routes in bars have been nixed but they could crop up in truck stops and airport lounges. Internet gambling would also be legalized under the Senate bill. Complaining of a “uniquely punitive impact” on its eponymous racino in the Harrisburg area Penn National Gaming is pushing back against the legislation. Considering the number of times Penn has tried to kneecap 
political opponents with dirty tricks, we feel little sympathy. While the gambling expansion is projected to raise $200 million for the state, the gaping budget gap will be mostly covered with tax increases and a $1.5 billion loan, thanks to entrenched opposition to by Republicans to even higher taxes. Gov. Tom Wolf (D) would only commit to evaluating the bill, saying it and others “contain many policy changes and deserve a full vetting.”
* Station Casinos‘ timeline for developing a Reno casino remains somewhat nebulous but it got a boost from the Reno City Council, which voted to rezone an adjoining, 12-acre site, home to derelict big-box retail stores. The rezoning may enable Station 
to change its mind on a 500-room hotel that it has scratched as “economically feasible.” (Station owns a portable gaming license that excludes one casino from having a hotel.) If Station proceeds with its 89,500-square foot casino, amenities will include a small cineplex and a bowling alley. Councilman Paul McKenzie said that anything that prompted Station to move forward was a good thing. “This to me, is pretty evident that that particular site is not panning out as a retail site anymore,” he remarked, welcoming the idea of trying something different (maybe even a bigger Station Reno).
However, Councilwoman Jenny Brekhus was irked by Station’s continuing inactivity in the area. “We have extreme pressure to 
diversify our economy from old economic uses and we have a huge housing demand. I’m concerned the staggering of these developer requests is going to this keep this property vacant for another 10 years.” For the sake of Reno, let’s hope Brekhus is wrong.
* With a new gaming compact with Gov. Rick Scott (R) in their back pocket, the Seminole Tribe gleefully smashed guitars to signify the launch of construction of a new Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood tower, whimsically designed in the 
form of a guitar body. Not only will the gui-tower add 638 units to Hard Rock Hollywood’s room inventory, an additional expansion will tack on 30 more, for a grand total of 1,300 rooms and suites. Hard Rock International CEO James Allen was also talking up the forthcoming Bora Bora Experience, saying, “You’ll have Chickees submerged in water with beds, bedrooms, showers and complete butler service built into the pool itself,” to say nothing of paddle boats and canoeing.
Spending aggressively, Hard Rock Hollywood is increasing its casino floor by 100%, to bring the tally to 3,267 slot machines and 178 table games (including the much-coveted blackjack). The existing, 5,500-seat concert hall will be scrapped entirely in favor of a 7,000-seat, $100 million successor. Throw in 141,000 square feet of meeting space and 60,000 of retail, and the Seminoles are being very good corporate citizens.
* Bad news for the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans: A U.S. District Court judge ruled that they’re a dollar short and three years late in contesting the Ho-Chunk Nation‘s planned expansion of its Wittenberg casino, North Star Casino Resort, where the Ho-Chunk intend to add 200-plus slot machines, 10 
gaming tables, a hotel, a restaurant and a bar. While the part of the Mohican lawsuit charging the state of Wisconsin of violating its compact with the tribe, the Ho-Chunk have been dismissed from the litigation. Judge James Peterson decreed that the Mohicans should have filed their lawsuit by 2014, when the statute of limitation lapsed. “The Stockbridge-Munsee have known about gaming compact violations it alleges were committed by the Ho-Chunk since the Ho-Chunk opened a casino there in 2008,” reported the Lacrosse Tribune.
The Mohicans “have known the facts supporting each element of their claims since 2008. They could have sued the Ho-Chunk then. Instead, they acquiesced to the Wittenberg casino for nearly a decade until the Ho-Chunk decided to expand,” Peterson wrote. “In other words, the Stockbridge-Munsee had six years to call attention to the Wittenberg casino’s alleged violations of the Ho-Chunk Compact, but failed to do so.”
The judge also denied the Mohicans a preliminary injunction against opening the North Star expansion, which is 85% complete anyway. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) has been invited to file for a dismissal, based on the issue of timeliness, but has given no sign of his intentions yet.
