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Penn National to sell track for $280 million

Friday, Oct. 15, 2004 | 11 a.m.

Penn National Gaming Inc., which operates casinos, agreed to sell its Pocono Downs racetrack to the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority for $280 million to comply with Pennsylvania provisions on slot-machine ownership.

The sale includes a harness horseracing track on 400 acres (160 hectares) in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and five off-track betting facilities, Penn National said in a statement. The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, which represents Connecticut's Mohegan Tribe of Indians, plans to install 3,000 slots at Pocono Downs.

Penn National plans to install slots at a track in Grantville, Pa. Under state law, that would prohibit the Wyomissing, Pa-based company from developing slots at Pocono Downs.

"While we would have preferred to have developed Pocono Downs ourselves, given the ownership restrictions on a second licensed slot operation in Pennsylvania, we concluded we had no alternative but to sell this property," Penn National Chief Executive Officer Peter Carlino said in the statement.

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