Penn National Gaming Names Frank Quigley General Manager of Argosy Sioux City; Gaming Industry Executive Brings Twenty Five Years of Management Experience to Sioux City Facility

WYOMISSING, Pa. & SIOUX CITY, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 6, 2005--Penn National Gaming, Inc. (Nasdaq: PENN) ("Penn") announced today that Frank Quigley has been named General Manager of the Company's Argosy Sioux City facility in Iowa, pending regulatory approval.

In his new role, Mr. Quigley will be responsible for all facets of Penn National's operations at the Argosy Sioux City riverboat, located in the historic Missouri River Valley.

“We are excited to welcome Frank as the General Manager of our Argosy Sioux City facility”

Frank Quigley brings over 25 years of successful gaming industry experience to his new position with Penn National Gaming. Mr. Quigley most recently served as the General Manager of Argosy Casino-Baton Rouge, which Penn National sold in October. Prior to joining Argosy, Mr. Quigley was an executive with Harrah's Showboat Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he served as Vice President of Slot Operations. Prior to that, Quigley was a 20-year employee with Harrah's Casino in Atlantic City, where he ascended from dealer to the rank of Vice President of Table Games/Credit/Security.

"We are excited to welcome Frank as the General Manager of our Argosy Sioux City facility," stated Kevin DeSanctis, President and Chief Operating Officer of Penn National Gaming. "Frank brings many years of diverse gaming industry experience, including significant slot operation management and responsibility, to his new role as GM of Argosy Sioux City. Frank's appointment reflects our long-term emphasis on attracting and developing premier management teams at all our properties, which is essential to our ability to continue to cultivate the long-term value of our portfolio of regionally diverse assets."

Commenting on his appointment, Frank Quigley stated, "My 25 year career in the gaming industry has emphasized employee team building, business growth and customer service and satisfaction. I am looking forward to working with Kevin DeSanctis and the rest of the Penn National team, to ensure that Argosy Sioux City is providing a great entertainment experience for players, a results-driven work environment for employees and appropriate returns to Penn National."

About Penn National Gaming

Penn National Gaming owns and operates casino and horse racing facilities with a focus on slot machine entertainment. The Company presently operates fifteen facilities in thirteen jurisdictions including Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ontario. In aggregate, Penn National's facilities feature over 17,500 slot machines, over 400 table games, over 2,000 hotel rooms and approximately 575,000 square feet of gaming floor space. The property statistics in this paragraph exclude two Argosy properties which the company anticipates divesting, but are inclusive of the Company's Casino Magic - Bay St. Louis, in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi and the Boomtown Biloxi casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, which remain closed following extensive damage incurred as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

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. Penn describes certain of these risks and uncertainties in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004. Meaningful factors which could cause actual results to differ from expectations described in this press release include, but are not limited to, the opportunity to assess more fully the hurricane damage recently incurred at two properties and the ability of the Company to recover losses under its insurance policies for that damage; the passage of state, federal or local legislation that would expand, restrict, further tax or prevent gaming operations in the jurisdictions in which we do business; our ability to successfully integrate the operations of Argosy Gaming Company; the activities of our competitors; increases in our effective rate of taxation at any of our properties or at the corporate level; successful completion of capital projects at our gaming and pari-mutuel facilities; the existence of attractive acquisition candidates and the costs and risks involved in the pursuit of those acquisitions; our ability to maintain regulatory approvals for our existing businesses and to receive regulatory approvals for our new businesses (including without limitation an operators' license in Pennsylvania); delays in the process of finalizing gaming regulations and the establishment of related governmental infrastructure in Pennsylvania and Maine; the maintenance of agreements with our horsemen and pari-mutuel clerks; our dependence on key personnel; the impact of terrorism and other international hostilities and the availability and cost of financing and other factors as discussed in the Company's filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Furthermore, the Company does not intend to update publicly any forward-looking statements except as required by law. The cautionary advice in this paragraph is permitted by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.