Happy Valley Casino’s general manager knows the community has long waited for this to open — but so has he.
Eric Pearson was officially tapped as the casino’s GM within days of the business forming in September 2020. Penn State alum and real-estate magnate Ira Lubert started it shortly after winning a $10 million bid for the mini-casino license nearly six years ago.
Construction was expected to start by the end of 2021. But then Pearson and the public waited. And waited. And waited.
“If I’m truly honest, we’ve been focused on just solving the problems and getting everything ready to open that I don’t think it’s fully hit me yet,” Pearson said Thursday about finally opening.
