HARRISBURG, PA: The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board today announced May hearings for three western Pennsylvania casinos to gather evidence, including public comment, on the renewal of their slot machine operators’ licenses.

All hearings will begin at 10 a.m. and are as follows:

May 3, 2011 -    Presque Isle Downs and Casino (Presque Isle Downs, Inc.)
                        Location: Summit Township Building, 8900 Old French Rd., Erie, PA 16509.

HARRISBURG, PA: The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board today fined Presque Isle Downs, Inc., operator of Presque Isle Downs and Casino in Erie County, $52,000 for three instances of permitting underage persons onto the gaming floor and for permitting a patron on the Self-Excluded List to play slot machines and collect a jackpot.

Additionally, Greenwood Gaming & Entertainment, Inc., operator of Parx Casino in Bucks County, received a fine of $20,000 for removing slot machines without the proper authorization by the Gaming Control Board.

HARRISBURG, PA: The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board today posted on its web site the revenue figures for February table games play at the ten operating casinos.

Table games produced $43,626,564 gross revenue in February resulting in $6,980,250 in tax revenue. Pennsylvania has a 16% tax rate on gross table game revenue with 14% going to the Commonwealth’s General Fund and 2% to the local host county and municipality.

Gross revenue for each of the casinos in February 2011 is as follows:

HARRISBURG: The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board announced today that the start time for its meeting on Wednesday, March 23, 2011 will be 9:30 am rather than the previously announced 10:00 am start.

The meeting venue remains in Hearing Room 1 at the PUC-Keystone Building in Harrisburg. An agenda for this meeting will be posted on the Board’s web site, www.pgcb.state.pa.us, prior to the meeting.

HARRISBURG: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court today affirmed the licensing decision made in 2009 by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to award Valley Forge Convention Center Partners, L.P. a Category 3 slot machine license.

The Valley Forge Convention Center has 488 hotel rooms on 850,000 square feet of property and is located at 1160 First Avenue in King of Prussia. Valley Forge estimates that it will produce $74 million in annualized gross terminal revenue from slot machine play by its fifth year of operation.

HARRISBURG: The Gaming Control Board and State Police are reminding visitors to Pennsylvania casinos to immediately turn in lost cash, vouchers, chips or unplayed slot machine credits, or face the possibility of criminal theft charges.

PGCB Chairman Greg Fajt says there is no such thing in Commonwealth casinos as "finders-keepers" when it comes to finding lost money or credits.

"Every square inch of a casino is monitored by cameras and recorded making these venues the worst place in the Commonwealth to try and commit a crime," Fajt says.

HARRISBURG: The state departments of Health, Revenue and Agriculture – along with the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board – are working together to highlight "Problem Gambling Awareness Week," March 6-12, to ensure that Pennsylvanians with gambling addiction problems know that help is available.

HARRISBURG, PA: February slot machine revenue jumped markedly from a weather-scarred January. The average tax generation per day rose 23% from $3.13 million per day in January, when harsh winter weather affected the ability of patrons to visit Pennsylvania casinos, to $3.86 million per day in February.

February’s slot machine revenue was 17.6% higher this year over the winter weather impacted month of February in 2010.

HARRISBURG, PA: Table games play withstood a harsh January to generate revenue of over $43 million, an amount that ranks second in overall monthly table games revenue since the tables games were introduced into Pennsylvania casinos last year.

HARRISBURG, PA: The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board today approved consent agreements for underage gambling violations by two casinos resulting in a total of $135,000 in fines.