It had been hoped that several casino operators would be taking part in an auction held yesterday for a casino license in Pennsylvania, however for many different reasons the auction attracted no bidders whatsoever, and as such the casino license has been left in limbo.
It was the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board that had been tasked with overseeing the auction and drumming up interest in it, and despite their attempts no one showed any interested in opening a new casino, which is a blow of the state government, who had been hoping the cash generated would help alleviate their many current financial problems.
This is not the first time that such a casino license has failed to attract any interest, for around six months ago they had previously held such an auction which was for the sixth license the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board had been prepared to award to a company.
The previous 5 new casino licenses state regulators had approved had been bid on, and in total some $127million had been raised via the auctions of those casino licenses.
One of the reasons as to why there was no interest in that sixth state license was that only operators of casinos already based in Pennsylvania, of which in total there are thirteen of them, one of which is still being built could bid for them.
Another reason could have been the minimum bid requirement, which was some $7.5million, so as far as Pennsylvania goes, the operators of the land-based casinos there feel that there is no great demand for an additional casino in the state.
The auction may be held again sometime in the future, but the only realistic way they will attract interest will be by opening the auction up to casino operators that do not already hold a Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board issued license.
