DAN MATERNA

Howard

With approval of the Nittany Mall casino’s license application I called the 1-800-GAMBLER hotline to ask when Gamblers Anonymous (GA) plans to begin a local group in the Centre County area.

They said the Pennsylvania chapters of the GA fellowship have closely followed Happy Valley’s community opposition to the casino here.

They expect several GA meetings per week in the State College area to begin no sooner than the summer of 2025.

I asked how they were able to determine that date right now and why the start-up timeframe is not expected until more than two years from now.

The counselor explained that GA anticipates the remainder of 2023 will be tied up with the casino’s licensing decision appeal in the state Supreme Court.

They went on to explain that after that Supreme Court appeal is concluded, and even if the license is finally issued, the expected 12-month construction process will take all of 2024 to complete.

When I asked why the meetings would not begin here until the summer of 2025, they explained it will take about six months after the casino’s grand opening for problem gamblers in Happy Valley to realize they are not going to win back their losses and only then will they reach out to GA for help.

Anyone looking for a GA meeting before then can drive to a meeting in Williamsport, Harrisburg or Camp Hill.

The counselor said that is the same distance that folks are driving to Pennsylvania casinos right now.