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On August 15, Penn National Gaming Inc. will open a video lottery facility at the Charles Town Race Track, but it has yet to come up with an acceptable name for it.
A recent press release referred to it as the Silver Screen Casino. When asked how they arrived at that name, Robert Ippolito, chief financial officer at Penn National, said his boss Peter Carlino came up with it. He indicated there may be a problem with the West Virginia state legislature in using the word "casino" in it.
Bill Bork Jr., marketing manager at the race track, said they are still working on the name. "It will be Silver Screen something, but I don't know what."
In help-wanted classified ads running in local newspapers, the company is using the name "Charles Town Gaming." (The industry used call playing the slot machines and the horses gambling.) Regardless of the eventual name, Ippolito said the gaming facility's theme will be that of a 1930s-style Paramount theater with rounded edges on ticket booths. This is in keeping with the era the original Charles Town track was born in.
While there may be some confusion on the name, Penn National wasted no time applying to the West Virginia Lottery Commission for an increase in video lottery terminals (VLTs) from the initial 400 to 1,000. Ippolito said it should take 90 days to get clearance to go ahead with the larger number, based on the experience Mountaineer Race Track had with the commission.
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