Massachusetts gambling regulators voted 3-2 for Plainville to be the site of the state’s first and only slots parlor.
The Gaming Commission fiercely debated where they wanted the slots parlor should go. In the end, it came down to Leominster and the Plainridge racetrack in Plainville.
Tim Willmott, is the president of Penn National, which will operate the Plainville slots parlor and racetrack:
“We’ve been watching back in Pennsylvania over the internet for the past two plus days – never knew what the outcome would be until the final vote was taken. My stomach was in knots for two days.”
The commissioners who backed Plainville felt it was important to protect the 120 existing jobs at the track.
But Gaming Commission Chairman Steve Crosby wanted Leominster to win.
“It is an area that needs help, it has high unemployment. And there aren’t a lot of opportunities that have the capacity to lift a small region. And this proposal had the possibility to lift that region in a modest but real way.”
Penn National says it's ready to begin work on the site on Monday, and hopes to have the slots lit up by June of next year.r.
The smaller facility can offer up to 1,250 slot machines, but no table games.
