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For Michele King, the tornado that struck the Morgantown area last week revealed the true nature of the community.

The tornado hammered Caernarvon Township and Morgantown in Berks County, damaging several homes. Neighbors from surrounding communities in the Twin Valley area reached out to lend a hand.

“That’s who we are,” King said.

King relishes the tight-knit community. She and a number of neighbors worry that Penn National Gaming’s plans to build a casino in the Morgantown area will do lasting damage to the community.

Penn National is seeking approval to build a $111 million casino in Caernarvon, just off the Pennsylvania Turnpike and about 12 miles from the company’s headquarters in Wyomissing. Company officials say the casino will deliver good-paying jobs and a shot in the arm for the local and regional economy.

The state Gaming Control Board must sign off on the plans for Penn National to move forward. The board hasn’t scheduled a final hearing on the project.

But the proposal has engendered strong opposition in the area, at the nexus of Berks, Lancaster and Chester counties.

To be sure, the casino has plenty of supporters, including local and county elected officials, some local residents, area business leaders and union workers. But opponents are aiming to make sure the gaming board knows some neighbors don’t want a casino in their community.

More than 200 attended the board’s public hearing on the casino in March, and critics outnumbered supporters. More than 1,000 people signed a petition against the project. Many opponents at that March hearing wore badges with the logo “CasiNO.”

King, one of the leaders of the casino opponents, lives in Honey Brook Township, which borders Caernarvon. She said the combination of gambling and traffic issues make the project a bad fit for the Morgantown area, a gateway to the nearby Amish and Mennonite communities.

“We’re a small town, surrounded by a rural community that just happened to have the right GPS location and have a turnpike exit right here,” King said.

Lisa Joye, a Caernarvon resident, said she’s worried about the casino fueling addictions to gambling and alcohol. She said she understands some people argue the casino could bring new businesses, including restaurants, but said she wants to live in a small town. As she put it, she is OK driving 20 minutes to the Applebee’s in Reading.

“I do feel like I’m battling for my hometown,” Joye said.

Opponents of the planned Hollywood Casino in Morgantown wore badges to show their views. Dozens wore the "CasiNO!" badges at a public hearing at the Caernarvon Township municipal building.

Some casino opponents feel like it’s only a matter of time before slot machines and table games will be in the Morgantown area.

The gaming board factors community sentiment in its decision-making process. But there’s no set formula for the board to consider community support in its decision-making process, said Rich McGarvey, a gaming board spokesman.

Still, the board carefully weighs community sentiment, he stressed.

Several years ago, the gaming board denied a license to a planned casino in the Gettysburg area. The proposal drew intense opposition from some who thought it was profane to build a casino near the famed Civil War battlefield. The strong opposition was one of the factors the board cited in rejecting the proposal.

Public sentiment “is something that has played in all the different licensing decisions,” McGarvey said.

The gaming board will have to weigh the vocal opponents with the supporters. And there are those who welcome the casino with open arms.

The Caernarvon Township supervisors unanimously approved the site plans for the casino in March. Those plans won’t move forward without the approval of state regulators but the elected officials of the host municipality have made it clear they want the casino built in their township.

Allen Styer, chairman of the township supervisors, told the gaming board at its March hearing that the casino could draw visitors and generate sorely needed tax revenue.

“This will be a destination place for people and maybe some other businesses will want to come here,” Styer said in March.

When contacted for this story, Styer said he didn’t want to offer additional public comment until the gaming board made its decision on the project.

Randolph Peers, president and CEO of the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance, views the planned casino as a “win-win” for the region.

“We want people to live, work and play in Berks County,” Peers said. “This really does strengthen our hand, in addition to being a good jobs-generating project.”

Penn National has said the casino would create 250 local jobs and 275 construction jobs, Penn National said. If regulators approve the project, Penn National officials said the new casino in Morgantown could open in the fall or winter of 2020. Attempts to reach Penn National for this story were unsuccessful.

The planned Hollywood Casino in Morgantown is one of a host of new “mini-casinos” proposed across the state. Gov. Tom Wolf signed a law in 2017 allowing the creation of 10 new “mini-casinos” in Pennsylvania. Penn National is planning to build a mini-casino just outside York at the York Galleria. The parent company of the Parx Casino in Bucks County wants to build a new mini-casino in Shippensburg.

Penn National’s Morgantown casino would include up to 750 slot machines, 30 table games and a full sports betting lounge. By contrast, the company’s full-sized Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course in Dauphin County offers about 2,000 slot machines and more than 50 table games, along with sports betting.

For casino opponents like Michele King, the benefits of the casino seem to grab more attention than the downsides. King and some critics have voiced concern about increased traffic in the surrounding communities. Supporters note that casino visitors will likely use the turnpike and I-176 to get to the slots parlor.

But if that traffic isn’t coming into the surrounding communities, King asked, then why would a casino help bring any additional restaurants or shops?

“Supervisors are telling us they will get off turnpike and won’t go into town. Yet we hear it will bring more people into town and get new businesses.

“It doesn’t seem to be a consistent answer,” King said.

Dottie Martin, co-owner of Clair’s Restaurant in Caernarvon, said most of her customers seem to favor the prospect of having a local casino. Still, she said she’s not sure the casino will help or hurt other businesses. She said many gamblers will eat in one of the casino’s restaurants.

Martin said many of her customers, particularly seniors, like the idea of a casino.

“They already go to casinos,” she said. “It’ll be close. They won’t have to go to Harrisburg or Valley Forge.”

Rev. Coleen Painter of the Elverson United Methodist Church cites concerns on moral and monetary grounds.

She and other critics wonder if the casino can stay afloat with the Valley Forge casino only 27 miles away, while the larger Philadelphia casinos are just an hour from Morgantown.

But she worries about the casino tempting those who live in the Morgantown area and leading to problems with gambling addiction. With a casino in town, a trip to the slots parlor moves from an occasional treat to an after-work habit, Painter said. And she said that could strain social service groups, non-profits and churches.

“If we’re having to minister to people with gambling problems, there are other missions we won’t have money and people power to do,” she said.

Painter said she hopes the gaming board will see that the small, rural community isn’t the right fit for a casino.

“I don’t know the people on the Pa. Gaming Control Board will do,” she said. “What I’m doing is I’m praying for them.”