The State College community's documented opposition to the proposed Nittany Mall Casino outweighs the documented support for the proposed casino by an overwhelming margin.
Note: On August 4, 2022, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) published 43 additional public feedback messages regarding the proposed casino at the Nittany Mall. These messages had been submitted via the PGCB website between May 22, 2022 and June 12, 2022, but they were lost in processing and were not included with the rest of the public feedback that was published earlier. The PGCB was able to locate these messages and publish them after inquiries from concerned members of the community. The chart above and the discussion below have been updated to reflect these additional messages.
Ira Lubert and Bally's Corporation are proposing to develop a new casino at the Nittany Mall. However, the PGCB has not yet voted to approve or deny the license for this casino, and there is still time for the casino's development to be stopped!
The PGCB accepted public feedback regarding this casino proposal by e-mail at boardclerk@pa.gov until Sunday, June 12th, 2022 at 5:00 pm. A total of 1,023 messages opposing the proposed casino were submitted directly to the PGCB before the feedback deadline. An additional 575 messages were recorded via the online petition opposing the casino and also submitted before the deadline. Additionally, online and hard-copy petitions opposing the casino were both submitted before the deadline including signatures from at least 3,300 distinct individuals who would be negatively impacted by the proposed casino. Across all of these sources, a total of 4,898 messages of all types have been submitted in opposition to the proposed casino, whereas only 115 messages of all types have been submitted in support of the project.
PGCB representative Doug Harbach has previously noted that not all casino licenses get approved. He has indicated that the PGCB is reviewing all of the community feedback that is sent in about the Nittany Mall Casino very closely to determine not only what is in the best interest of the Commonwealth, but also what is in the best interests of our community (see this WPSU program on gambling in Pennsylvania between 27:25-28:30 for more details). The citizens of State College and the surrounding communities expect the PGCB to keep its word and to deny the license for the proposed Nittany Mall Casino on the basis of the overwhelming public opposition that has been expressed regarding the proposed project.
All of the feedback that has been submitted to the PGCB is available for public review on College Township's Casino Information Page.
The summary petition documents are also available here:
Several online resources have been set up to help organize opposition to the proposed casino at the Nittany Mall:
Send an e-mail to the College Township Council at ctcouncil@collegetownship.org to let them know that you want them to rescind their prior approval for the proposed casino
Online petition opposing the casino (note: additional signatures will be displayed online, but the official deadline for submitting feedback to the PGCB has already passed)
E-mail Updates: If you would like to receive occasional e-mail updates about ways that you can help our community's efforts to stop the proposed Nittany Mall Casino, please sign the online petition opposing the casino and select the option to receive e-mail updates
Past letters to the editor written in opposition to the Nittany Mall Casino in local media publications include the following: