State College Casino Developer Gifts Penn State $10M for Football Stadium Renovation
Posted on: September 6, 2024, 08:50h.
Last updated on: September 6, 2024, 09:51h.
The developer behind a planned casino in State College, Pa., just miles from the Pennsylvania State University campus, has gifted the school $10 million for its football stadium renovation project.
Ira Lubert won the rights to a Category 4 casino license on Sept. 2, 2020, when he was the high bidder during an auction round conducted by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB). Lubert submitted a bid of $10,000,101 that narrowly edged Baltimore-based Cordish Companies.
This week, Lubert, a 1973 Penn State graduate whose real estate firm, Lubert-Adler, has a deep portfolio in office, industrial, residential, retail, and hospitality across the nation, announced a $10 million gift to the Beaver Stadium Revitalization. The donation will result in the Lubert Family Welcome Center, a new “landmark space” at one of the stadium’s entrances. The renovation project is to be completed in 2027.
Coming to Penn State set me on a path that has led to professional success and personal fulfillment, and I am honored that the Lubert Family Welcome Center will offer a fresh, exciting first impression for future Penn Staters as they discover all that the university offers,” Lubert said.
The Penn State Board of Trustees approved a $700 million renovation of Beaver Stadium in May. While most of the investment will be financed and no tuition money will be used, private donors continue to help reduce the amount of interest the school will pay by lessening the principal. With Lubert’s contribution, the renovation has now received $55 million in donations.
Nearby Casino Saga
The renovation of Beaver Stadium has faced significant scrutiny as the $700 million project comes as the school continues to try and reduce its costs by offering some employees buyout packages. Another high-profile controversy in Centre County is Lubert’s plan to open a casino.
After winning the September 2020 auction, Lubert announced a partnership with Bally’s Corp. to invest $123 million to renovate the former Macy’s department store at the Nittany Mall into a so-called mini-casino with up to 750 slot machines and an initial allotment of 30 live dealer table games, plus a sportsbook. The mall is less than five miles from the PSU Main Campus and Beaver Stadium.
Cordish raised allegations in litigation that Lubert violated bidding protocols by orchestrating an investment group that helped him fund the $10 million bid. Lubert’s investors, who were detailed later, were not eligible to bid since they didn’t hold “an ownership interest in a slot machine license” as Lubert did with his 3% stake in Rivers Casino Pittsburgh.
Cordish argued it should have been the only qualified bid that September, but the case, which made its way to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, came down in Lubert’s favor. The state’s highest court in July upheld lower courts’ rulings in deciding that Lubert, while he might have organized an investment group to build the casino, had retained 100% control of SC Gaming OpCo, the entity he bid as, during the auction and subsequent remission of the $10 million fee.
PSU Steers Clear of Casino Controversy
After years of legal delays, Bally’s, which will operate the State College casino, told investors during its second-quarter earnings call that construction at the Nittany Mall is targeted for the first half of 2025.
Marcus Glover, the chief financial officer of Bally’s, said the company and Lubert’s team are “going through the process and obtaining the appropriate approvals.”
In July, Bally’s accepted a takeover from Soo Kim’s Standard General hedge fund. Bally’s has recently faced several credit downgrades, concerns about its financial outlook, and worries that the company could be overleveraged. ?
Many in the State College community remain opposed to the casino. Despite widespread opposition and thousands of local residents expressing disdain for a casino coming so close to where roughly 50,000 students study, the Penn State Board of Trustees refrained from taking a public position on the project. Since the College Township Council failed to opt out of being considered for a Cat. 4 casino, there is seemingly little recourse to block the Bally’s Pennsylvania casino.
Kim has remained quiet about what Bally’s future might look like once he takes full control. Under Standard General, Bally’s is expected to direct much of its focus on its $2 billion Bally’s Chicago undertaking, and possibly, a new resort in Las Vegas. That could prompt the company to fold on smaller regional operations like the one coming to State College. ?
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Last Comments ( 118 )
As long time home owners in Lemont, that is approximately 2 miles from this proposed casino, my wife and I are 100% against it. As a former coach and educator, I am amazed that a high profile Penn State alum would even consider backing such a project in rural Pennsylvania so close to his alma mater.
I think in the article "[Ira Lupert]....has gifted the school $10 million for its football stadium renovation project" misspells the word "grifted". Casinos should be legal, but it seems wrong to have one near a college campus, and the nearly always bring misery to the area unless the betters are bussed in and out, and then, the misery is sent away. I do not want a casino in or near State College.
50,000 students with easy access to in person gambling…what could possibly go wrong?! As a local resident, I don’t want a casino here.
We do not want a casino in our community!
We are opposed to a casino project in our town. This is not the town for a casino. Thank you for your consideration of this comment.
NO to a casino, it will increase various dangers.
Adults and leadership have failed in their responsibility to protect the best interests of students, the next generation, and the communities they serve. This is a classic scenario of philanthropy based on self-interest and/or conflict of interest to further the special interests of a few myopic individuals who profit from gambling while taxpayers are left to wipe up the mess of socioeconomic fallout from lives and families destroyed by addiction. Gambling is not "economic development" that leads to positive community outcomes.
Ira Lubert's gift of $10M for The Lubert Family Welcome Center as part of the Beaver Stadium renovation at Penn State University is a legacy that will be surpassed. In the hearts and minds of countless individuals of the Penn State Community and its outreach, this football legacy will be overridden by Mr. Lubert's other unwanted legacy to us -- the casino at Nittany Mall in College Township. We individuals abide by, and it would be wise for Mr. Lubert, his wealthy, local casino developer friends, and the Penn State University Administration to truly listen to, remember, and heed the words of the Penn State Alma Mater: "For the glory of old State, For her founders strong and great, For the future that we wait, Raise the song, raise the Song. Sing our love and loyalty, Sing our hopes that, bright and free, Rest O Mother dear, with thee, All with thee, all with thee. When we stood at childhood's gate, Shapeless in the hands of fate, Thou didst mold us, dear old State, dear old State, dear Old State. May no act of our bring shame, to one heart that loves thy name, May our lives help swell thy fame, Dear old State, dear old State. Soon we know a guiding hand Will disperse out little band, Yet we'll ever loyal stand, State, to thee, State, to thee. Then Rah! Rah! for dear old State, For our love can ne'er abate! Ring the song with joy elate, Loud and long, loud and long." Words by Prof. F.L. Patee; Music by C.C. Converse (1901) Verse 3 Revised in 1975.
I remain steadfastly OPPOSED to the Casino in State College for reasons as others have stated - reasons MANY TIMES presented to College Township where I live - to Penn State University of which I am a graduate (and where I am about to cease ALL contributions - have given to since graduating in 1966 - for also so many growing reasons) - and to the Bally decision-makers.
Having a casino in State College is a very bad idea. The fact that a wealthy casino owner has contribure $10 million to PSU football is a very bad sign. Are immediate finances a priority above student and community health. Casinos take money from the those least able to afford it. They are a temptation to our students who should be studying and conserving their finances.
The addictive nature of gambling is well documented and putting a casino next to a University can only be regarded as predatory, not to mention other crime frequently associated with casinos. Penn State should be ashamed of not taking a public stand to protect its students, and Bally/Standard General & Lubert should be ashamed of attempting to operate in this market. Penn State's acceptance of a $10,000,000 donation from the casino developer casts a long shadow over Penn State's claim to upholding core values of Integrity, Responsibility and Community.
Penn State is not accountable to the local community. We learned that when its leadership worked to get the Bryce Jordan center, alone, exempt from the amusement tax that supports the local schools and community—a tax that would not come out of Penn State's budget and would add a small amount to each ticket. That was years ago and only one example. Penn State is a front for wealthy businesses to put their representatives or themselves (Ida Lubert) on the board to make decisions to increase their personal and business fortunes. Educating students is a front—though it may not have started that way, and we may still pretent education comes first. It is no different than any oth er business—a great factory feeding business and industry and enriching the same. Supporting the casino is just one more example.
Please do not allow the casino to come to State College. It will cause more heartbreak and is not worth the revenue people think it will bring. I live a short walk to the mall, this will not make our area more desirable for families.
A casino in State College is a BAD IDEA -- always has been. It's astounding that it takes this much effort to get the point across that a CASINO IN STATE COLLEGE IS A BAD IDEA. It's not good for the community. It's not good for students. Penn State is complicit in bringing about this BAD IDEA. The people who live here don't want a casino and Ira could put his money to better use.
As a community leader heavily involved with youth and college students I am very opposed to having a casino in this area. I do counseling with hundreds of young people and to add to their woes gambling addictions is the wrong step for them to become responsible adults. Please reconsider your decision to put a casino in our town. Mitch Smith