Late in the business day on September 13, Bally’s Corp. and SC Gaming terminated their agreement to build a satellite casino at Nittany Mall near Penn State University. The $130 million project had been three years and much litigation in development.

In a joint statement, the two companies said “Bally’s corporate strategic priorities have shifted elsewhere, prompting the company to exercise its option to end the relationship.” SC Gaming will now go it alone with the casino, still following the original plan for the project.

Six weeks ago, Bally’s had projected an early 2025 start on construction of the casino. At the time, Bally’s President George Papanier had told Wall Street analysts, “Obviously, the lawsuits are behind us. We’re now focused on going through the process and obtaining the appropriate approvals … So we’re focused on that. And timing of construction probably won’t be until the first half of 2025 at this point.”

Continued Papanier, “As part of that transaction, obviously, there’s a stage relative to arranging the financing for that. And so now that the court has ruled, we are now going through the whole developmental underwriting process and how we plan for that.”

The commentary came after Bally’s had agreed to accept a buyout offer from Chairman Soo Kim’s Standard General fund. Lubert had already paid $10 million for the satellite-casino license.

A court challenge from losing bidder Stadium Casino was nixed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court last July. Stadium may still pursue other avenues of thwarting the license award. It had contended that Lubert was a $10 million “Trojan horse” for out-of-state Bally’s.

SC Gaming still anticipates an early 2026 opening for the medium-sized casino. Sole investor Ira Lubert insisted he has the experience and the means to make a go of the College Township casino without assistance from Bally’s.

“I demonstrated to the Board my resources and capability to independently develop and operate this casino project without reliance on a third party, including Bally’s,” Lubert said, referring to Pennsylvania regulators. He added, “I have a proven track record of casino resort development in Pennsylvania, having successfully developed the Valley Forge Casino Resort during the challenging economic conditions following the 2008 financial crisis.

“With that experience, I am fully confident that this project will be a success, delivering a casino development that both College Township and the Commonwealth [of Pennsylvania] can take pride in,” continued Lubert. He wished his erstwhile partner “continued success in their exciting ventures, including major projects in Chicago and Las Vegas.”

Papanier said he was “grateful” for the three-year collaboration with Lubert. “However, as our strategic focus evolves, we have made the difficult decision to conclude our relationship.  We extend SC Gaming our best wishes for their ongoing development efforts and for their continued success.”

An unattributed statement in the joint communique said that Bally’s was exiting College Township to focus resources elsewhere. It added that the casino company was “confident in its ability to adapt and thrive in the ever-changing market.”

For his part, Lubert was the owner and operator of Valley Forge Casino Resort (now owned by Boyd Gaming) from 2008 to 2018. He is also an investor in Rivers Casino Pittsburgh.

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