The Battle of Gettysburg ended on this day in 1863. Although it’s strange to talk about winners and losers in the context of an event that killed almost 60,000 soldiers, the South lost the battle. It went down in history as the turning point of the Civil War.

Since then, the battle site has been preserved to memorialize the many dead and the pivotal moment in American history. Gettysburg National Military Park sees more than a million visitors each year. According to the Gettysburg Adams Chamber of Commerce, most of them are Americans travelling within their own country. To keep this onslaught of people entertained when they’re not engaged in solemn commemoration, Adams County is full of historic sites, museums, farms and other activities. But though corn mazes and petting zoos are in keeping with local character, many argued that gambling was not.

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Until recently, an Adams County businessman named David LeVan was seeking to build a “racino”–a racetrack and casino development—in Gettysburg, about three miles from the battleground park. The development, which was planned under recently changed Pennsylvania casino laws, has been cancelled for now—but LeVan was already a contentious figure in the debate over Gettysburg’s storied history.

“It was LeVan’s third attempt to bring gambling to Gettysburg in at least seven years,” the Associated Press explains in a story printed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Proposals sharply divided the community, and opponents argued it wasn’t appropriate for the historic region.”

The project would “have essentially created a racino in the heart of the historic Gettysburg Battlefield, which is visited by thousands of tourists every year,” reports Ivan Potocki for Casinopedia. One of the opposing groups, No Casino Gettysburg, argues on its website that the development would be “like putting a neon frame at the entrance to a national treasure.”

By contrast, LeVan pointed out that his proposal would site the racino farther away from the Gettysburg park than the casino in Valley Forge is from Valley Forge National Historical Park, writes Samantha Beckett for Casino.org. And it's true that a number of historic sites in the country are located near casinos, including Valley Forge. But in 2012, wrote Tim Prudente in The Frederick News Post, supporters of state legislation that would have created a '10-mile buffer' around Gettysburg National Military Park argued that Gettysburg was different from those other sites.

'There are things you don't get to do on certain pieces of land because they represent something far greater to others,' said Paul Bucha, a Vietnam veteran who testified during hearings on that bill, which did not ultimately pass.

But local opposition wasn’t what halted LeVan's current project. In a statement, LeVan said that he hit stop because Pennsylvania recently changed its laws around gaming, Lillian Reed wrote for The Evening Sun on June 14. That day was when LeVan made the choice not to apply for what was the last available license that would have made his project possible.

'I continue to believe that a gaming project would be tremendous for the local Adams County economy, create thousands of jobs, and provide desperately needed funding for countless municipal and community projects,” LeVan said in a release.

With this casino bid, LeVan found himself facing strong opposition that includes the 7,000 people who signed a petition opposing the racino, the National Park Service and the National Parks Conservation Association, according to Beckett.

“Gettysburg National Military Park has already proven to be an enduring part of the community,” the NPCA said. “Approving a horse racetrack and casino would forever change this treasured place.”

Civil War re-enactors at the Gettysburg National Battlefield Park. (Photo Courtesy Gettysburg Visitors and Convention Bureau)

(CNSNews.com) – A proposed casino located a half-mile from the Gettysburg National Military Park could bring much-needed jobs and income to the local community, according to proponents, but opponents of the plan call casinos “predatory” businesses, and say opening a casino near Gettysburg is a “national disgrace” that dishonors fallen Civil War soldiers.
The American Legion, the nation’s largest veterans service organization, weighed in on the project last week in a statement, joining the concerns of an already vocal group opposed to the casino project.
'There is no way that The American Legion or the American people -- especially her veterans—will stand by and let the memory and meaning of Gettysburg National Military Park be besmirched by this misbegotten plan to erect a casino in proximity to this hallowed ground,” said American Legion National Commander Clarence E. Hill.
No Casino Gettysburg, a citizen group that has been fighting against casino projects in Gettysburg since 2005, endorsed Hill’s statement, and said the casino will hurt the image, and the economy, of the town.
No Casino Gettysburg spokeswoman Susan Star Paddock told CNSNews.com that a casino would “alter the cultural context of the Gettysburg National Military Park,” and that “it would be harmful to the economy of our area.”
“We have a unique economy that is based on heritage tourism -- basically people who travel for meaning --to have an experience of American history,” Paddock said. “The heritage tourists tell us that they do not travel to sites with casinos.”
But developers of the Mason Dixon Resort and Casino say that the concerns about the project are misplaced, and are looking to bring new jobs and revenue into the area.
“Clearly people are taking a moral stand, they’re making this a moral issue, without knowing any of the real facts, and not taking into account the state of the economy in Adams County,” Mason Dixon spokesman David La Torre told CNSNews.com
Adams County, Pa., where Gettysburg is located, has an 8.6 percent unemployment rate, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“The gaming industry has been good for Pennsylvania, has been very good,” La Torre said. “Gaming has only been around in Pennsylvania for almost 4 years now. It’s created 12,700 jobs.”

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La Torre said the Mason Dixon casino is expected to create 900 local jobs, and produce $66 million in local activity.
“Local residents want this project,” La Torre said, claiming majority support from local residengts in two public polls that have been taken on the issue.
Although the proposed site of the project would place the casino a half-mile from the 6,000-acre Gettysburg National Military Park, not directly on park property, preservationists point out that the site would be next to where Union cavalry advanced on South Cavalry Field -- a substantial scene of Civil War fighting.
According to the American Legion: “It is also believed that there are a number of soldiers buried in this area in unmarked graves.”
'The battlefield actually encompassed a greater area than is currently designated as a military historical site. In order to show the proper respect, we believe that something as frivolous as a casino should be much more than a half mile away,' Hill said. 'We need to be sensitive to the fact that this is a hallowed resting place and its tranquility should be preserved as much as possible.'
La Torre called the American Legion president's comments “irresponsible,” and said that the project would not involve construction on undeveloped areas. Developers of the Mason Dixon are looking to renovate an existing resort hotel and event complex.
“I just think people don’t really understand the details of the project, the fact that this resort has been there for 35 years,” La Torre said. “The ground has been turned around multiple times.”
“The notion that there would be unmarked graves is completely the first time we’ve every heard anybody say something like that. That is frankly so irresponsible that it doesn’t deserve a response,” La Torre told CNSNews.com.
American Legion national spokesman Marty Callaghan said that the American Legion agreed with No Casino Gettysburg on preserving the sanctity of the battlefield, but it understands that a casino could have a positive economic impact on the area.
“Basically, we want to make sure that whatever happens, the sanctity of that battlefield is maintained,” Callaghan said. “We do understand the economic side, and it’s great to get an economic opportunity like that in Gettysburg, or any other area, but basically we’d like to see that casino located somewhere else besides right next to the battlefield area.”
“We just feel as though a casino is inappropriate to have so close to where men of our country fought and died and shed their blood,” said Callaghan.
La Torre, meanwhle, accused the American Legion and No Casino Gettysburg of hypocrisy.
“The Gettysburg Country Club, located on the battlefield -- 120 acres — bigger than our parcel, was on the auction block for more than a year, and it was sold to a high-density housing developer,' La Torre said. 'Now this developer hasn’t announced any plans yet, but nobody has said a thing about this 120 acres.'
“Nobody has held a protest, nobody has held a candle light vigil, nobody has issued a press release saying, ‘We must protect this land,' he said. 'And this land is site of some of the most ferocious parts of the battle of Gettysburg, but nobody says anything about that.”
“Where’s the American Legion now?' he said. 'The American Legion would rather focus on a facility that’s not even located on the battlefield and has been in existence for 35 years, yet they probably aren’t even aware of what’s taking place on the battlefield.'

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La Torre also said that a brand new hotel was just built “right next to where Abraham Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address.”
“The back wall of that hotel is 5 yards from tombstones,” La Torre said. “Where was the American Legion when that was being built?”
No Casino Gettysburg, however, called the accusations “a complete distraction.”
“Our organization is set up for one purpose and one purpose only, and that is to keep a casino from being housed one half-mile from Gettysburg National Military Park,” Paddock told CNSNews.com. “We are not ‘We Are the World.’”
Paddock said the casino spokesman failed to mention that the housing developer cited has been working with preservationists to sell the bulk of that property back to the national park.
Casino opponents, she said, are not opposed to the particular building in question -- but they are very opposed to what a casino would bring.
“It has nothing to do with the building, it has to do with a predatory business, which is what a casino is,” Paddock told CNSNews.com
The American Legion's Callaghan, meanwhile, said the accusations miss the mark.

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“We understand that there’s already a hotel there that’s been there for about 40 years, but hotels are different from casinos. You get quite a bit more traffic, and who knows what else is going to go up after the casino is built,” Callaghan said. “Casinos are different from hotels and country clubs.”
“There are thousands of casinos,' said Paddock. “There is only one Gettysburg.”

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A decision on licensure should come by the end of the year.