Penn National reports record earnings

Penn National Gaming Inc., parent of Charles Town Races & Slots,reported record fourth-quarter earnings of $9.19 million, or 23 centsper share. The company attributed its performance to managers of itsvarious properties.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call expected earnings of 34cents per share.

Fourth-quarter net income in 2003 was $7.63 million, or 19 cents ashare, the Wyomissing, Pa.-based company said Tuesday.

Revenue for the quarter was $296.9 million, compared to $164.1million in 2002. Penn National owns the Charles Town horse track;Casino Magic, Boomtown Biloxi and the Bay St. Louis resort inMississippi; the Casino Rouge riverboat in Louisiana; Bullwhackerscasino in Colorado; two racetracks and 11 off-track betting parlorsin Pennsylvania; and a 50 percent interest in Pennwood Racing Inc.,which runs Freehold Raceway in New Jersey. It also operates CasinoRama in Toronto, Canada.

In March 2003, the company purchased Hollywood Casino Corp., withproperties in Tunica, Miss., Aurora, Ill., and Shreveport, La.

Peter Carlino, chief executive officer, said the company has been"aggressively seeking new growth opportunities that leverage ourproperty development and management skills and race track operatingexperience."

Penn National is one of seven bidders for a casino license inIllinois. The company has proposed building a casino in the Chicagosuburb of Rosemont, Ill., and then selling it to the state ofIllinois.