Butler County could be in the running for a new mini-casino, though many elected officials are not keen on having one in their community.

The state Gaming Control Board Wednesday will hold the first of 10 silent auctions for licenses for minicasinos.

Gov. Tom Wolf last year signed Act 42 of 2017 into law, which authorized the 10 new casinos and expanded gambling, including video gaming terminals at truck stops and airport gaming tablets.

Also called satellite casinos, the mini-casinos will be permitted to have up to 750 slot machines and up to 30 table games.

In Butler County, 17 of 57 municipalities voted to opt out, which was allowed under Act 42, before the Dec. 31. deadline. The municipalities that opted out include Harmony, Slippery Rock, Petrolia, West Liberty, West Sunbury and Buffalo, Butler, Clearfield, Clinton, Connoquenessing, Fairview, Franklin, Oakland, Center, Cranberry, Jackson and Worth townships.

Statewide, 1,017 of Pennsylvania's 2,562 municipalities opted-out.

Despite not opting out, several other municipalities would be ineligible for a mini-casino since they are less than 25 miles away from Rivers Casino, a category 2 casino in Pittsburgh.

This includes Saxonburg, Zelienople, Mars, Callery, Seven Fields, Evans City, Adams Township, Forward Township, most of Penn Township and about half of Jefferson Township, according to a map released by the Gaming Control Board.

Some of the other municipalities that did not opt out are the city of Butler and Muddycreek, Lancaster, Donegal, Slippery Rock, Summit and Winfield townships.

An exception to this rule would come if Rivers Casino wanted to open a satellite location less than 25 miles away from its main facility.

The bid for each license must be at least $7.5 million and only casinos that hold a category 1 or 2 license may bid, according to the Gaming Control Board's website.

Officials around the county had different views on the state law and the prospect of a mini-casino.

Jack Cohen, president of the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau, said that a casino could be beneficial to the community if its owner invests money and puts in other attractions besides gambling.

A building in an undeveloped area that offers slot machines and little else would bring undesirable people to the area and do little to stimulate the local economy, Cohen said.

“It's all in the way that you build the facility. It's not necessarily that you have slot machines and tables and all that stuff. If people just come to gamble it doesn't work. If you look at (Las) Vegas, they have shows and entertainment and the gambling is secondary,” he said.

Butler Mayor Ben Smith, who took office after the opt out deadline, said that he wouldn't fight against a proposed casino, but there would be pros and cons.

“I can see some advantages to having a casino, but they bring their own clientele with them and the whole point of having a casino is to get the people to not leave the casino,” Smith said.

Officials in several townships in the county chose to opt out, a move that can be rescinded later, but didn't offer strong opinions on the issue.

Butler Township commissioners chose to opt out because of the lack of information about the new casinos, commissioner Chairman Dave Zarnick said.

“We were never notified by anyone from the state, including our local representative, about what was going on,” he said.

Zarnick said that if a casino was interested in putting in a location in the township, commissioners would revisit the matter and look at how it might affect the community.

Franklin Township Supervisor Chairman Herman Bauer Jr. said that the supervisors heard comments from community members who were opposed to a casino.

“At this point the board is not inclined to accept a mini-casino, but if someone is interested we would review it,” Bauer said.

Cranberry Township's supervisors voted to opt-out to take more time to evaluate the new law, according to an announcement posted to the township's website. The township's comprehensive plan and zoning code were approved without officials considering the possibility of a casino, the announcement said.

Slippery Rock officials felt that it is unlikely that a casino would locate in the borough, though they passed the resolution after hearing concerns from residents who said that a casino would negatively affect the community.

The other provisions of the gaming expansion bill won't have an immediate impact locally, such as video poker machines being permitted at truck stops.

Managers at both the Pilot Travel Center on Route 422 in Franklin Township and the Emlenton Truck Plaza in Venango County said this week that they had no plans to install poker machines.

A call to the management of the TA Travel Center in Barkeyville, Venango County, was not returned Tuesday.