Boyd Gaming, a Nevada-based gaming company, announced on Wednesday, December 20th, 2017 that they have signed an agreement to buy Valley Forge Casino for the price of $280.5-million. By the end of September 2018, the sale is expected to be complete.
Who is Boyd Gaming?
Boyd Gaming Corporation was originally founded by Sam Boyd in 1941. Today, its CEO is Keith Smith. They currently operate casinos in 10 states, with 4 casinos in Nevada. In 2016, Boyd’s revenue totaled $2.1-billion. Valley Forge will be Boyd’s 29th commercial gaming property.
Why Valley Forge?
Valley Forge Casino Resort is located in a small town named King of Prussia, in Pennsylvania. King of Prussia is itself small, with a population of under 20,000 residents in 2010. However, King of Prussia is only a 19-mile drive west of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s most populous city. In addition, four national highways meet in King of Prussia, meaning that the area is frequently busy with visitors from out of town. Indeed, King of Prussia is host to the largest shopping complex in the United States, which is a testament to the municipality’s ability to attract visitors and their business.
Valley Forge itself has an area of 40,000 sq. ft., and it has just under 500 rooms in its hotel, 50 table-based games, and six hundred slot machines. There are plans underway to increase the number of slot machines to 850 in early 2018, and to add a poker table to the existing tables. Valley Forge will be Boyd Gaming’s first property in Pennsylvania.
Why Now?
In October 2017, Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf (a Democrat), signed into law new legislation that made Pennsylvania the fourth state to allow online gambling. As Pennsylvania is already the second-largest commercial gaming state, this law allows new opportunities for casinos. Another effect of the new law allows casinos in Pennsylvania to remove their admission fee for customers; something that Valley Forge did in November.
In 2016 in Pennsylvania, casinos took $3.2-billion from gamblers. So far in 2017, there appears to have been a 1 percent decrease in this year-on-year value.
A further possible law change is being considered by the Supreme Court, in which the federal law that prohibits sports betting in states other than Nevada may change to permit states to decide whether sports betting should be legal. If this law change is passed, it will open the chance for Valley Forge to include sports betting in its casinos.
