Uniontown Herald Standard Rebuffs Washington Meadows for Tactics Against Nemacolin Woodlands Casino Application

FARMINGTON, Pa., Sept. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- The Uniontown Herald Standard, the largest daily newspaper in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, has weighed in against the Washington Meadows Racetrack and Casino, calling their recent tactics "very petty," following that "the Washington contingent should be ashamed of themselves."

At the public input hearing for Nemacolin Woodlands Resort Category 3 casino license application, representatives of Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Washington County, as well as several other Washington County representatives, traveled to Fayette Country to speak in opposition to the project.

In the editorial, the paper made clear the opinion that the economic benefits from the Nemacolin proposal are much-needed in Fayette County.  Additionally, any argument based on proximity toward the Nemacolin application is negated by the proximity of other Category 3 applicants to their closest currently-operating Pennsylvania facilities.

Frankly, to have the gall to come and openly campaign for real economic benefits and job opportunities that we desperately need in our neighborhoods to be shipped to the eastern part of the state is disgusting. The Washington contingent should be ashamed of themselves.

They argue that having a Nemacolin resort casino 56.7 miles away, or a 1-hour-and-11-minute drive, is just too close. That would be all well and good if The Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh wasn't 23.7 miles away from the Meadows, a quick 38 minutes on the highway. It's enough to make us wonder if we are the only ones with access to Google Maps.

We can understand that the state doesn't want to cannibalize already existing casinos, but the three other applicants would put their resort casinos 33 minutes, 36 minutes or 1 hour and 18 minutes from already existing casinos. Nemacolin is substantially farther in distance from the Meadows than the Mechanicsburg or Fernwood Resort proposals would be to their closest casino and negligibly closer than the Gettysburg proposal.

In summary, the editorial cited the importance of the Nemacolin project for the local economy.

Truly, the Washington County contingent's argument would be comical if there wasn't so much at stake.

Nemacolin projections are that a casino would open 400 jobs at the casino, 200 additional jobs at the resort, and 150 construction jobs. You would think our neighbors in Washington County would want jobs here rather than in Gettysburg, the Poconos or Harrisburg.

Meanwhile, Nemacolin estimates project the casino would provide $1.5 million toward the county's room occupancy tax annually and would bring in estimated tax revenue to the state of $37.7 million in 2012; $2.1 million to Fayette County; $1.3 million to Wharton Township and an additional $700,000 in other local taxes, for a total of nearly $42 million in taxes the first year. Under the law, the county and the township would get 2 percent of the revenue earned by slot machines and 1 percent of the money from table games.

In summary, the editorial concluded:

And that case [for Nemacolin] far outweighs the petty complaints of our neighbors in Washington County.

The full editorial can be found at the following link: http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1641/2010/september/17/very-petty.html

Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, located in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, has filed an application with the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board for a Category 3 resort gaming license as authorized under the 2004 Gaming Act.  Isle of Capri Casinos, Inc. will manage and market the proposed casino at the southwestern Pennsylvania resort if the license is granted.  For more information about the proposal, visit WinAtNemacolin.com.

SOURCE Nemacolin Woodlands Resort