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Penn National Gaming Announces Management Changes at Three Gulf Coast Properties

Chett Harrison joined Penn National in January 2001 when he was named the Director of Marketing at Boomtown Biloxi. He was subsequently promoted to Assistant General Manager of the property in August 2006 and to General Manager of the facility in January 2007. Prior to joining Penn National, he spent 6 ½ years at the Copa Casino in Gulfport, MS, including 5 years as Senior Marketing Manager. At Copa Casino, he was responsible for strategic marketing planning while undertaking the same responsibilities for an affiliated property, the Sands Regency Hotel and Casino in Reno, NV. After his work with the Copa Casino and the Reno Sands Regency Hotel and Casino he served for a year as Director of Marketing at the Palace Casino Resort and Hotel in Biloxi, MS.

Richard Neal has been with Penn National Gaming since January 2003, when he joined Hollywood Casino Baton Rouge as Director of Finance, and was promoted to Assistant General Manager of the property in 2006. Prior to joining Penn National, he served in a variety of senior finance and executive positions at Caesars Tahoe, the Peppermill Hotel & Casino in Reno, NV, The Mirage, the Golden Nugget Laughlin and the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, MS.

With nine years of gaming industry experience and a 17-year career in hotel management, John Chaszar has served as General Manager of Hollywood Casino Bay St. Louis since August 2007. He joined Penn National in 2001 as Director of Resort Operations at the property and was subsequently named Assistant General Manager in 2006. Prior to joining Penn National, he served as General Manager of the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver, CO.

Thomas P. Burke, Senior Vice President Regional Operations of Penn National Gaming, commented, "Chett, Richard and John bring a wealth of gaming and lodging experience and extensive knowledge of the Gulf Coast market to their new roles. Each individual is uniquely qualified to ensure the ongoing success and competitiveness of their respective properties through a focus on operations, customer service and employee development. These appointments again demonstrate Penn National's strategy of attracting and promoting proven gaming industry veterans to manage its regional gaming properties and we are confident that Chett, Richard and John will efficiently manage these key properties while enhancing the already strong community relationships we have established in these markets."

About Penn National Gaming

Penn National Gaming owns and operates gaming and racing facilities with a focus on slot machine entertainment. The Company presently operates nineteen facilities in fifteen jurisdictions, including Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ontario. In aggregate, Penn National's operated facilities feature over 26,300 gaming machines, approximately 400 table games, over 2,000 hotel rooms and over 959,000 square feet of gaming floor space.

In the second half of 2010, the Company plans to add table games to its facilities in West Virginia and Pennsylvania and expects to open the first video lottery terminal facility in the state of Maryland in Cecil County. Through a joint venture, Penn National is developing a full casino at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, which is anticipated to open in early 2012, and is also developing casinos in Toledo and Columbus, Ohio, with openings targeted for the second half of 2012. The Company recently announced its planned acquisition of Beulah Park in Ohio in a transaction expected to close in the second quarter of 2010.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may vary materially from expectations. Although Penn National Gaming, Inc. and its subsidiaries (collectively "Penn National" ) believe that our expectations are based on reasonable assumptions within the bounds of our knowledge of our business and operations, there can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from our expectations. Meaningful factors that could cause Penn National's actual results to differ from expectations include, but are not limited to, risks related to the following: our ability to maintain regulatory approvals for our existing businesses and to receive regulatory approvals for our new businesses; the passage of state, federal or local legislation that would expand, restrict, further tax, prevent or negatively impact operations (such as a smoking ban at any of our facilities) in the jurisdictions in which we do business or seek to do business; the activities of our competitors and the emergence of new competitors; construction factors, including delays, unexpected remediation costs, local opposition and increased cost of labor and materials; the costs and risks involved in the pursuit of those development opportunities; the availability and cost of financing; the effects of local and national economic, credit, capital market, housing, energy conditions on the economy in general and on the gaming and lodging industries in particular; and other factors as discussed in Penn National's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K as filed with the SEC. Penn National does not intend to update publicly any forward-looking statements except as required by law.

Penn National Gaming, Inc.
William J. Clifford
Chief Financial Officer
610/373-2400
or
Jaffoni & Collins Incorporated
Joseph N. Jaffoni, Richard Land
212/835-8500 or penn@jcir.com