Seems as if at least one new casino may be coming to the Pocono Mountain area. The next round of license hearings were held in May. There are only three applicants for the two Resort or Class 3 licenses available. The three are Fernwood Resort in Monroe County, The Resort at Split Rock in Carbon County and the Valley Forge Convention Center. The license would allow the successful applicants to have a facility with up to 500 slot machines (as opposed to the up to 5,000 permitted in the other two types of licenses).
At the May hearing held at the Kidder Township Building on the Split Rock application, the gist of the Resort's presentation was to show who and what they are, how they already comply with the stated requirements for such a license and the added revenue it would bring to the area. They also emphasized that the Valley Forge application is a stretch since they do not seem to meet the intent of the legislation (to assist resorts in the state to attract additional overnight stays and promote tourism) since they are not a destination resort like Split Rock or Fernwood. If that is the correct interpretation, it would seem to be a "no-brainer" and the two resorts would get their approvals. However, we all know that obvious interpretation of complicated laws seldom results in the same decision as reached by a court or other legal entity/agency. Even so, the two area resorts have a 2 out of 3 chance to get at least one license awarded here.
Public comment at the hearing was all favorable at the Split Rock hearing although it was not attended by anywhere near the number of people attending and commenting at the Fernwood hearing (which also essentially all favorable) held the day before. Of course, additional comments can still be made and received for the record via an online forum at the State Gaming Commission website.
Get ready for the impacts if the applications go through. This could well mean additional home rental business in the area plus a positive impact on local area stores, restaurants and other businesses. Naturally there could also be some downsides such as added traffic, additional people with the opportunity for additional crime etc. I hope that we are prepared for both of these possibilities and that the added revenues offset the added local government costs to deal with them. Anyone have any thoughts to share here or with the Gaming Commission?
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