The incoming Penn National Gaming mini-casino in Caernarvon Township, just beyond the Chester County border, has divided the local community, writes Andrew Maykuth for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The new casino will be on the edge of Amish Country, in a politically conservative area where many see the project as a deal with the devil.

“In every way, it’s incongruent with this community,” said Sam Rohrer, former state representative and president of the American Pastors Network, based in Elverson.

People made their voices heard at a hearing in early March. Most of the several hundred people who came to the standing-room-only event by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board spoke against the project.

“This is not a community, like Las Vegas, where ‘what happens here, stays here,'” said Rev. Coleen Brandt Painter, pastor of the Elverson United Methodist Church. “This is a community where everybody knows your name, and your business, and we like it that way.”

Meanwhile, the Caernarvon Township Board of Supervisors welcomed the casino as a major boost to the tax base. It is estimated that Caernarvon will receive $1.6 million annually in new tax revenue, around 62 percent of its current $2.6 million budget.

Read more about the new casino in the Philadelphia Inquirer here.

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