Pennsylvania: Parx Casino Shippensburg holds testing days ahead of February grand opening
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Parx Casino is getting ready for the grand opening of its new Shippensburg location, set to take place Friday, Feb. 3 at 10 a.m., pending Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board approval. The smoke-free property, located at 250 South Conestoga Drive in Shippensburg Township, will become the state’s 17th casino next month. Officials said they expected to bring hundreds of people to the area, and the community is hoping it becomes an economic driver.
The new casino provided local media and residents with a sneak peek of what to expect. “We've had a lot of positive feedback already. There are people eating in our restaurant to the right and we think it’s going to be a great experience,” said Kevin Brady, general manager of the new Parx location, according to abc27.
Ahead of the grand opening, the PGCB first needs to see how the casino will be operated, with this week reserved for testing days to make sure all equipment is functioning properly and employees have a suitable workplace environment. Parx Casino expects to see 400 to 500 people for each day of testing.
“The biggest differentiator of our business is our employees that actually work at the property. All of the facilities around here have slot machines, table games, have restaurants, but we firmly believe that our team members are going to be the biggest differentiators for us and taking care of our customers,” added Brady, according to the cited source.
The two days of testing will make sure everything is in shape for the grand opening, and all the money earned through the training days will be given to charity. The 73,000-square-foot casino will be open 24 hours on opening day, and it will have around 500 slot machines and 48 table games.
The centerpiece of the casino is an electronic gaming area combined with live dealers, reports PennLive, and the property features elegant decor and televisions galore. The casino was built on the site of a former Lowe's, and it features room for expansion.
The property was originally slated to open in November 2022, but it faced some construction delays. Parx Casino Shippensburg will become the state’s fourth Category 4 casino, or “mini-casino,” which have to be a certain distance from the other 13 larger casinos to gain approval.
Parx won an auction for $8.1 million in 2018 to develop a Category 4 casino in Cumberland County. It then filed a petition to offer table games in April 2019 and got approval in January 2022, paying a $2.5 million fee in the process.
