Valley View Downs denied temporary license

With a financing deadline looming just days away, officials of the proposed Valley View Downs racetrack in Pennsylvania had their request for a temporary license rejected Thursday by a 7-0 vote by the state’s Gaming Control Board. The Board ruled it has not completed its investigation of the application, although Valley View could still later receive approval.

Indiana-based Centaur Gaming, the parent company of Valley View Downs, has a July 15 deadline for a $995 million bank loan--$455 million toward the racetrack/casino project—for this and other company projects.

Like Centaur, Lawrence County Commissioner Dan Vogler — who testified Thursday before the gaming board — was disappointed in the ruling. But after a four-year fight to bring a harness track and casino to Lawrence County, he’s looking at Thursday’s ruling as just another hurdle.

“I would characterize it as a lost battle, but the war’s not over yet,” Lawrence County commissioner Dan Vogler, a supporter of Valley View Downs, was quoted as saying.

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