Happy Valley residents who drive past the long-vacant former Macy’s store at the Nittany Mall will notice a brand-new perimeter construction fence surrounding the future site of the Nittany Casino that Ira Lubert will build as a token of his appreciation to the Penn State community. When completed, his 24/7 casino gambling venue will stand out as a blemish on Mr. Lubert’s legacy to his both alma mater as well as our bucolic college town of State College.
Construction of the Nittany Casino will begin soon and in about 12 months the extensive and expensive interior remodeling work will transform the long empty department store into a provider of non-stop entertainment featuring casino table games as well as 750 chiming and charming slot machines that will haul in the steady casino revenue stream for Mr. Lubert and his partners to enjoy. Bally’s Corporation bailed out of their framework agreement with the Nittany Mall casino in September. Maybe they learned that dying shopping malls do not bounce back to success.
But regardless of that rationale, the legacy of Ira Lubert and his business partners no doubt will be celebrated at the casino’s 2026 grand opening with beaming smiles, high-fives and a televised ribbon-cutting ceremony. The casino will be open around-the-clock on a 24/7 operating schedule that will continue until that 24/7 plan soon proves to be both unrealistic and overly optimistic.
Happy Valley is not a major urban area. The casino developers forgot to factor in the simple truth that the residents of our community know better than to throw away their hard-earned money by spending hours at casino table games and charming slot machines. Table game minimums of $10 or more per hand will discourage the folks who drive to another gas station to save 10 cents on a gallon of gas. On weekend nights those table minimums might be dialed up to $25 per hand. Oh my, nobody mentioned that before! The eventual financial downfall of the casino in Happy Valley will be attributed to competition from the 24/7 online gambling websites we see continually advertised on television every day. Everyone already knows we can use our phones 24/7 for that thrill right now. Nobody needs to know that some folks gamble online daily with their phones during their normal working hours.
An unanticipated but inevitable surprise will be realized by early 2027 when the Nittany Mall casino floor becomes as vacant as an empty ghost town between the hours of 2 a.m. and 2 p.m. In Happy Valley, casino patrons need to go to work in the morning. Make a note of this now and then anticipate watching it all unfold later.
Dan Materna,
Howard
