Proposed PA racino faces potential deal collapse

FROM: United States Trotting Association

BY: USTA Staff

Centaur, Inc., the operator of Hoosier Park and developer of the proposed Valley View Downs in western Pennsylvania, is reportedly scrambling to salvage a financing package said to be in jeopardy of collapsing.

At issue is the delay in granting Valley View a gaming license by the Pennsylvania Gaming Commission.

Reports on debtwire.com, a financial news service, say that loans taken out last October, one month after the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission granted a horse racing license to Valley View Downs, are now at issue.

The report says that lenders are attempting to “call in” the loans to Centaur, but a spokesman for Centaur said the company was continuing to negotiate with lenders.

The development, if built, will include a one-mile racetrack and slot machine parlor; it was pegged to cost $425 million, before the credit markets had tightened. The Gaming Commission will meet later this month, and could at that time rule in favor of Centaur’s license application.