(2/16) The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) has set April 5 as a public hearing date for Chance Enterprises' proposed Crossroads Gaming Resort & Spa (formerly the Gettysburg Casino and Spa) in Straban Township, Pa.

The public hearing on Chance's proposal will begin at 8:30 a.m., on April 5, in the ballroom adjacent to the student union at Gettysburg College, 300 North Washington Street, Gettysburg.

One of Chance's investors, David Michael LeVan, serves as a member of the board of trustees at the college, according to Kendra Branchick, assistant director of communications. "The college has remained neutral on the casino," she stated, but noted that the college faculty has voted as a body against the casino.

Individuals interested in commenting at the public hearings must submit a registration form that can be downloaded from the gaming board's Web site, www.pgcb.state.pa.us, and sent to the board postmarked no later than March 6, according to the PGCB.

"Information gathered at the hearings will become part of the formal record that the board considers when deciding which of the proposed facilities to license," according to PGCB Chairman Tad Decker.

The proposed Gettysburg area casino falls within PGCB's Category 2, a stand-alone casino not associated with a horse park. The Category 2 sites include two in Philadelphia, one in Pittsburgh, and two "wild card" licenses which can be anywhere in the state.

The Crossroads Gaming Resort & Spa, proposed on Route 30 near the U.S. 15 interchange by Chance Enterprises, will be vying for one of the two "wild card" licenses.

Crossroads' non-Philadelphia, non-Pittsburgh competitors and their proposed locations include:

• Tropicana Pennsylvania, LLC (Allentown);
• Sands Bethworks Gaming LLC (Bethlehem);
• Boyd Pennsylvania Partners, LP (Limerick);
• Mount Airy #1, LLC (Monroe County); and
• Pocono Manor Investors, LP (Monroe County).

Two of the "wild card" contenders previously listed for Category 2 permits, Trum Construction Company (Western Pennsylvania) and Pennsylvania Gaming Group, LLP (Lancaster), have potentially been eliminated from further consideration because of allegedly incomplete applications.

PGCB Spokesman Nick Hays told The Dispatch that the board found that the two applicants failed to provide letters of credit or bonds, and that Trum further failed to provide an application filing fee. Both were given ten days to establish that they had complied with application requirements.

"They did not submit everything that was necessary," Hays stated. Should they fail to do so, the application would be eliminated from the list of contenders.