Ira Lubert, who formerly owned the Valley Forge Casino Resort, has won an auction for a Category 4 slots license in Pennsylvania with a bid of slightly more than $10m.
The license would give Lubert permission to operate between 300 and 750 slot machines.
Lubert may also pay a further fee of $2.5m which would allow him to add up to 30 table games at the facility, with an additional 10 after its first year of operation.
Lubert’s bid was one of two received in the auction and sets a centre-point for the casino in Unionville Borough in Centre County, close to the municipality of State College. The casino must be placed within a 15-mile radius of this point.
Lubert is co-founder of private equity investment fund Independence Capital Partners and Lubert Adler Real Estate Partners. He owns a stake in Rivers Casino Pittsburgh.
Lubert must pay the bid price within two business days and then may apply for the license within the next six months.
The auction was announced in July. Mount Airy Casino Resorts had won an auction for this license in 2018 with a winning price of $21.2m for a facility in Big Beaver Borough in the West of the state, though its license application was later rejected.
Once the application is received and determined to be complete, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board will announce post public information about the project.