Pennsylvania-based casino company Penn National Gaming Inc. (PENN:NASDAQ) has announced it has opened a career center and has started to accept applications for some 375 new positions for its Hollywood Casino Morgantown property, which is expected to begin welcoming gamblers by the year’s end, pending customary regulatory approvals.

The 80,000-square-foot casino will reportedly feature about 750 slot machines and 30 tables games, a Barstool Sportsbook and race book, as well as various food and beverage options.

Career center:

Located at the Holiday Inn Morgantown, the career center, will over the next two weeks, reportedly host various Table Games Dealer School Open House hiring events for the coming casino.

Commenting on the hiring effort, Erin Chamberlin, senior vice president of regional operations for Penn National, said in a statement in the press release that they are…

“thrilled to begin accepting applications for our newest property from residents of Berks, Lancaster, and Montgomery counties, and other neighboring communities.” And they “look forward to interviewing candidates for the vast array of jobs that will support our expected grand opening later this year.”

Hiring events:

Individual interested in working at the “mini-casino” can either apply in person at the career center at the Holiday Inn Morgantown, which will be open from 9am to 5:30pm Monday through Friday, (operating hours are expected to expand in the near future) or online by clicking “Search All Jobs” and selecting “Hollywood Casino Morgantown” in the property listing drop down box.

Full and part-time opportunities are available. Positions will also be available in casino operations, food and beverage, human resources, security and surveillance, marketing and other areas. The casino is reportedly offering sign-on bonuses of up to $1,500.

Penn National also plans to host Table Games Dealer School open house hiring events at the career center. The events are scheduled from 9am to noon, Friday; 6pm to 8pm Monday; and 9am to noon Wednesday. Table Games Dealer School is expected to start in late September and is reportedly free of charge to new hires.

Winning bid:

In early 2018, the operator of Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course in East Hanover Township succeeded in winning the state’s first mini-casino auction. Following the successful bid, in June 2019, Mountainview Thoroughbred Racing Association, LLC,  a subsidiary of Penn National Gaming, was granted a license by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) to construct the satellite or “Category 4” casino within a 15-mile radius area in Berks and Lancaster counties.

That, after submitting a winning bid of $7.5 million at an auction held by the gaming board on April 4, 2019, with the approval clearing the way for the company to build an $111 million casino in Caernarvon Township.

It was the second winning bid for the entity, having won the right to build a casino at the York Galleria Mall near the Borough of Yoe in York County, with a $50,100,000 million bid in January at the first auction.

Hollywood Casino York opened August, 12 2021, with approximately 38,000 square feet of gaming, including more than 500 slots and video poker machines and over 24 table games (with room to expand). The facility is also home to the state’s first retail/casino Barstool Sportsbook.

Company info:

The largest regional gaming company in the United States, Penn National Gaming operates more than 40 facilities in 19 jurisdictions, including 8 horse and dog tracks (either owned or operated by Penn), 37 leased or managed casinos, as well as OTB properties. Hollywood Casino Morgantown will be the company’s first casino in its home county.

PA gaming landscape:

The Keystone State currently has 14 licensed commercial casinos, including the former Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, now, Wind Creek Bethlehem, which was acquired by PCI Gaming Authority D/B/A Wind Creek Hospitality (WCH), an authority of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama, for $1.3 billion in June 2019, and Mohegan Sun Pocono in Wilkes-Barre owned and operated by the Mohegan Indian Tribe. Both are licensed and regulated by the PGCB as commercial gaming operations.

As part of the state’s October 2017 gambling expansion legislation signed by Gov. Tom Wolf in October 2017, Pennsylvania was supposed to gain as many as 10 new satellite casinos, also called mini casinos, that can feature between 300 and 750 slot machines and possibly up to 40 table games.