Penn National Gaming Names Frank Quigley General Manager of Empress Joliet Casino and Hotel

Penn National Gaming, Inc. (Nasdaq: PENN) ("Penn”) announced today that Frank Quigley has been named General Manager of the Company’s Empress Joliet Casino and Hotel and that Kees Eder will assume Quigley’s prior position as General Manager of the Company’s Argosy Sioux City. Both appointments are conditioned on regulatory approval. Quigley replaces Jeff Pfeiffer who is moving to take a position in another gaming market. In their new roles, Messrs. Quigley and Eder will be responsible for all facets of operations at the Company’s Empress Joliet Casino and Hotel and at the Company’s Argosy Sioux City riverboat, respectively. Frank Quigley brings over 25 years of successful gaming industry experience to his new position. Prior to serving as the GM of Argosy Sioux City, Mr. Quigley was the General Manager of Argosy Casino-Baton Rouge, which Penn National divested in 2005. 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. Previously, 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. Kees Eder most recently served as Vice President & Assistant General Manager at Penn National’s Hollywood Casino Tunica. He has been employed with Hollywood Casino since October 2000 and has worked in the hospitality industry for 37 years. Under Eder's leadership, the Hollywood Casino hotel consistently achieved top honors by Casino Player magazine readers in the categories of Best Overall Hotel Casino, Best Rooms, Best Suites, Best Room Packages, Best Pool, and Best Valet Parking. "Frank and Kees are proven gaming executives and we are delighted that we have developed a depth of property-level management which enables us to promote from within,” stated Len DeAngelo, Executive Vice President Operations of Penn National Gaming. "Frank and Kees bring years of diverse gaming industry experience, including significant slot operation management and responsibility, food and beverage and hotel management experience to their new roles in Joliet and Sioux City. These appointments underscore 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.” 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 eighteen facilities in fourteen jurisdictions including Colorado, 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 23,000 slot machines, over 400 table games, approximately 1,731 hotel rooms and approximately 808,000 square feet of gaming floor space. 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, 2006. 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.