HARRISBURG — Las Vegas Sands Corp. submitted the highest bid Wednesday in an auction for the rights to Pennsylvania’s fourth mini-casino license, but gambling regulators invalidated it because the casino giant picked a location that is too close to another prospective casino site.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board said it would meet Thursday to consider the second-highest bid in the auction, submitted by suburban Philadelphia’s Parx Casino, which is controlled by London-based businessman Watche Manoukian.

Las Vegas Sands, which owns Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, had bid nearly $9.9 million and selected a site in Mercer County.

Under last year’s state law authorizing the gaming board to auction 10 new mini-casino licenses, the winner of each auction must select a prospective site that comes with a 15-mile buffer zone. The casino can be built anywhere within that zone.

However, the buffer zone around Las Vegas Sands’ selected site overlapped with the one selected by Mount Airy Casino Resort’s owner, which won the third auction two weeks ago.