(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

In front of a packed house at the Big Beaver Fire Department, Mount Airy Casino laid out their plans and specifics for a multi-acre, multi-million dollar mini-casino to be built in Big Beaver, located in the block that carries Shenango Road and Fairlane Boulevard.

Mount Airy, whose primary casino operations are in the Poconos, won the bid to build a mini-casino for Beaver County earlier in 2018, and plans to have building for the casino itself beginning as early as next year. According to Robert Carino of the Friedmutter Group, the casino will feature hundreds of slot machines and an elaborate design:

 

One of the major positives reiterated during discussion of the mini-casino is the potential for new jobs and a more flowing economy. Patrick Burke, the Vice President of Finance at Mount Airy Casino, said that hundreds of new job openings will exist once building is complete:

 

Several past and present Beaver County officials were in attendance for the meeting, including all three current Commissioners. Of those in attendance, the majority of them were overwhelmingly approving of the new casino coming to town.

Senator Elder Vogel Jr.

State Rep. Jim Marshall

Commissioner Chairman Dan Camp

However, some did have their reservations and concerns about the casino plans, particularly Big Beaver Councilman Jason Landsbach, who openly compared the promise of this mini-casino to a failed racino proposal from several years prior, and Beaver Falls Superintendent Donna Nugent, who shed her positive attitude towards the project with a timbre of concern:

Dr. Donna Nugent

The location of the mini-casino is located near one of the two points where Interstate 376 interchanges with the Pennsylvania Turnpike (Interstate 76); the other point is located in Monroeville.