Penn National Gaming Readies for 2012 Expansion with Appointment of Richard St. Jean as General Manager of New Hollywood Casino Toledo and Two Other Property Management Changes

- St. Jean Brings Over 25 Years Experience to New Role in Ohio and Will Oversee Opening and Ongoing Operations Beginning in 2012 -

- Himbert Sinopoli Named Hollywood Casino Aurora GM After Leading Successful Hollywood Casino Perryville Opening -

- Bill Hayles Named Hollywood Casino Perryville GM Following Roles as Assistant General Manager of Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races and GM of Black Gold Casino at Zia Park -

WYOMISSING, Pa. & TOLEDO, Ohio & AURORA, Ill. & PERRYVILLE, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Penn National Gaming, Inc. (Nasdaq: PENN) announced today that Richard St. Jean, 48, has been named General Manager of Hollywood Casino Toledo in Lucas County, Ohio. Mr. St. Jean will have full responsibility for the start-up, opening and management of the planned $300 millionHollywood Casino Toledo, including the recruitment and training of 1,200 employees. The facility, which is scheduled to open in the first half of 2012 and will be Ohio’s first full casino, will feature 125,000 square feet of gaming space and several dining and entertainment amenities.

Penn National also announced today that Himbert Sinopoli, currently the General Manager of Hollywood Casino Perryville, has been named General Manager of Hollywood Casino Aurora in Aurora, Illinois. Mr. Sinopoli, who has served in the Hollywood Casino Perryville General Manager role since February 2010, assumes the Aurora General Manager position from Robert Sheldon, who was recently named General Manager of the Company’s new Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway facility in Kansas City, Kansas that is scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2012. Bill Hayles, who previously served the General Manager of the Company’s Black Gold Casino at Zia Park, and most recently was the Assistant General Manager of Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races, has been named General Manager of Hollywood Casino Perryville. All three appointments are subject to regulatory approval and are expected to be effective in early June.

Richard St. Jean has held a wide range of property and corporate level positions throughout his 25-year gaming/hospitality industry career in regional, destination and tribal jurisdictions. Mr. St. Jean comes to Penn National following a 16 year career at Station Casinos. Most recently, he served as President of Native American Gaming and was responsible for a number of facilities including Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, California, and the Gun Lake Casino in Wayland, Michigan. From 2005 to 2008, he served as Vice President and General Manager of Development. From 1994 to 2005, he served in a variety of property management roles at several of Station Casinos’ facilities in the Las Vegas area, including the Santa Fe Station Hotel & Casino, Wild Wild West Hotel & Casino and Palace Station Hotel & Casino. Mr. St. Jean also served in a variety of roles at The Tropicana Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, the Colorado Belle Hotel & Casino in Laughlin, Nevada, Caesars Palace Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. He holds a B.S. in Hotel and Restaurant Administration from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Himbert Sinopoli has served as General Manager of Hollywood CasinoPerryville since February 2010. From 1999 to 2006, he was Director of Finance at Penn National’s Boomtown Biloxi and also served as the property’s Assistant General Manager from 2002 to 2006. From 2006 to 2007, he was Vice President of Accounting at Isle of Capri Casinos, Inc. From 2007 to 2010, he served as Assistant General Manager at Argosy Casino Alton. Prior to entering the gaming industry in 1994, Mr. Sinopoli was in public accounting as an auditor with KPMG Peat Marwick.

Bill Hayles, a 21-year veteran of the hospitality/gaming industry, has served as the Assistant General Manager of Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races since February 2010, and helped oversee the highly successful introduction of table games at the property last summer. He previously served as General Manager of Zia Park from 2007 to February 2010, with overall responsibility for operation of the 750-slot casino, live horse racing and simulcast facility. Prior to joining Penn National, he spent six years at Harrah’s Entertainment and Caesars Entertainment in a variety of operations roles at the company’s Atlantic City properties. He also served in senior property management roles at Starwood Hotels and Resorts’ hotel and convention center property in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Timothy Wilmott, President and Chief Operating Officer of Penn National Gaming, commented on the appointments, “Richard brings a wealth of gaming and hospitality industry experience to Penn National as we expand our management team and name property leaders in preparation for the opening next year of our three newest gaming facilities, including Hollywood Casino Toledo, which is planned for the first half of 2012. Richard’s career of more than 25 years includes operating positions at several regional and destination gaming properties and covers all aspects of casino operations, including gaming, food and beverage, marketing and human resources. We believe this skill set is an ideal match as he will oversee all the start-up and initial opening activities in Toledo and leads our efforts to work closely with the local community on a variety of outreach, diversity and regional promotion efforts.

“Himbert tirelessly and successfully managed the start-up and initial operations at the $90 millionHollywood Casino Perryville. Since opening in September 2010, the facility has seen continued gains in visitation and revenues and is quickly becoming a strong economic engine for Cecil County and the City of Perryville. In addition, we believe Himbert’s work to successfully develop close ties with the local community will serve Penn National well as takes over at Hollywood Casino Aurora and continues the growth momentum at that property and further establishes it in the Chicagoland market. Likewise, Bill Hayles has been a member of the Penn National property management team since 2007 when we acquired Zia Park and played an important role in quickly and successfully integrating that property into the Company’s overall portfolio. Over the last year, Bill was a member of the management team at Charles Town that launched the table game operations last summer to tremendous patronage and success.”

About Hollywood Casino Toledo

The $300 millionHollywood Casino Toledo is located on the banks of the Maumee River opposite downtown Toledo. Upon opening, it will include approximately 2,000 slot machines, 60 table games and a poker room with 20 tables in 125,000 square feet of gaming space. Other amenities will include structured and surface parking, food and beverage outlets as well as a live entertainment lounge.

About Penn National Gaming

Penn National Gaming owns, operates or has ownership interests in gaming and racing facilities with a focus on slot machine entertainment. The Company presently operates twenty-five facilities in seventeen jurisdictions, including Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, West Virginia, and Ontario. In aggregate, Penn National's operated facilities feature over 27,000 gaming machines, over 500 table games, over 2,000 hotel rooms and over 1 million square feet of gaming floor space.

Through a joint venture, Penn National is developing a full casino at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, which is anticipated to open in the first quarter of 2012, and is also developing casinos in Toledo and Columbus, Ohio, with openings targeted for 2012. In October 2010, Penn National purchased all of the outstanding debt of The M Resorts LLC. The M Resort Spa Casino is situated on over 90 acres on the southeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard. Penn National recently entered into an asset purchase agreement with The M Resorts LLC’s equity owners that will allow the Company to convert its debt ownership into full equity, subject to, among other things, regulatory approvals.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may vary materially from expectations. Although Penn National Gaming, Inc. and its subsidiaries (collectively, the “Company”) believe that our expectations are based on reasonable assumptions within the bounds of our knowledge of our business and operations, there can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from our expectations. Meaningful factors that could cause actual results to differ from expectations include, but are not limited to, risks related to the following: our ability to receive, or delays in obtaining, the regulatory approvals required to own, develop and/or operate our facilities, or other delays or impediments to completing our planned acquisitions or projects, including favorable resolution of any related litigation; our ability to secure state and local permits and approvals necessary for construction; construction factors, including delays, unexpected remediation costs, local opposition and increased cost of labor and materials; the passage of state, federal or local legislation (including referenda) that would expand, restrict, further tax, prevent or negatively impact operations in or adjacent to the jurisdictions in which we do business (such as a smoking ban at any of our facilities) or in jurisdictions where we seek to do business; the effects of local and national economic, credit, capital market, housing, and energy conditions on the economy in general and on the gaming and lodging industries in particular; the activities of our competitors and the emergence of new competitors; increases in the effective rate of taxation at any of our properties or at the corporate level; our ability to recover proceeds on significant insurance claims; our ability to identify attractive acquisition and development opportunities and to agree to terms with partners for such transactions; the costs and risks involved in the pursuit of such opportunities and our ability to complete the acquisition or development of, and achieve the expected returns from such opportunities; our expectations for the continued availability and cost of capital; the maintenance of agreements with our horsemen, pari-mutuel clerks and other organized labor groups; the outcome of pending legal proceedings; changes in accounting standards; our dependence on key personnel; the impact of terrorism and other international hostilities; the impact of weather; and other factors as discussed in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K as filed with the SEC. The Company does not intend to update publicly any forward-looking statements except as required by law.

Penn National Gaming, Inc.William J. Clifford, 610-373-2400
Chief Financial Officer
or
Jaffoni & Collins IncorporatedJoseph N. Jaffoni / Richard Land, 212-835-8500
[email protected]

Source: Penn National Gaming, Inc.