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Harrah's Introduces 'The Chester Challenge'

CHESTER, Pennsylvania -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- At a news conference today at Chester City Hall, Gary Loveman, Chairman, CEO and President of Harrah's Entertainment, Inc., (NYSE:HET) introduced "The Harrah's Chester Challenge," a community initiative designed to support the acquisition of jobs skills and training that will enable Chester residents to fully benefit from the new jobs that will be created as a result of Pennsylvania's gaming legislation.

Harrah's Entertainment is part owner of Chester Downs and Marina, LLC, which has been granted a license to operate a harness racetrack in the City of Chester to be located on the Chester waterfront site.

To launch the Chester Challenge, Harrah's Entertainment presented a $500,000 check to the Delaware County Workforce Investment Board, which is dedicated to job training and development in the region. The $500,000 donation from Harrah's Entertainment was expected to be earmarked for not-for-profit and government organizations that are dedicated to helping educate and train Delaware County residents on workforce readiness, such as the United Way, the Delaware Office of Employment and Training, and the Opportunities Industrialization Center.

"Gaming has helped produce dramatic economic turnarounds in communities across America, and we expect similar results from our project in Chester," Loveman said. "As we prepare for Harrah's Chester's opening next year, it is incumbent on us to help residents of the Chester community prepare to take advantage of the many new employment opportunities that gaming will generate."

At the news conference, representatives from Harrah's were joined by key supporters in the business community, as well as state and local officials such as Gov. Edward G. Rendell, State Sen. Dominic Pileggi (R-Chester), State Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland (D, 159th District), Chester Mayor Wendell Butler, Jr., and C. Edward Rogers, Jr., Commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Harness Racing Commission. Attendees discussed the economic benefits anticipated from what is expected to become one of Pennsylvania's first gaming facilities, and the substantial positive impact it is expected to have in the community of Chester.

"Now that Harrah's, the gaming industry's premier architects of change and progress, has joined our bipartisan private/public partnership, the challenge of changing Chester -- for the better and for the future -- can be effectively and more rapidly achieved," said Sen. Pileggi, an early and consistent champion of gaming in Chester.

"Harrah's has a long history of helping communities change for the better and a track record of coalescing strong bipartisan support and true cooperation between the public and private sectors to effect positive economic and social change," Loveman said. "We look forward to continuing that proud record in Chester."

Following the news conference, Harrah's welcomed all attendees to a formal groundbreaking ceremony at the future site of the proposed Harrah's Chester Casino and Racetrack.

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