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                                                                    EXHIBIT 99.1

PRESS RELEASE

PENN NATIONAL GAMING AND SHOWBOAT DEVELOPMENT COMPANY SETTLE ALL
OUTSTANDING LITIGATION

SHOWBOAT DEVELOPMENT WITHDRAWS PENNSYLVANIA SUIT

WYOMISSING, Penn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 28, 2002--Penn National Gaming, Inc.
(Nasdaq:PENN - news) and Showboat Development Company announced today that they
have agreed to settle all of their outstanding litigation including any rights
Showboat alleged to have had relative to Penn National's Charles Town Races
property in West Virginia.

Under the settlement, Penn National will make a one-time payment of $1 million
to Showboat Development. As required by Generally Accepted Accounting
Principles, Penn National will recognize the payment in the fourth quarter 2001
and adjust fourth quarter and full year 2001 earnings, as reported February 4,
2002, by $650,000 (after-tax) or $0.04 per share.

Under the terms of the settlement, Showboat Development Company has withdrawn
its lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania against Penn National which in summary claimed that Penn National's
operation of its Charles Town Races property in West Virginia constitutes the
operation of a casino, thereby triggering an option Showboat held to manage a
casino at the facility.

Penn National Gaming owns and operates Charles Town Races in Charles Town, West
Virginia, which presently features 2,000 gaming machines; two Mississippi
casinos, the Casino Magic hotel, casino, golf resort and marina in Bay St. Louis
and the Boomtown Biloxi casino in Biloxi; and the Casino Rouge, a riverboat
gaming facility in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Penn National also owns two
racetracks and eleven off-track wagering facilities in Pennsylvania and the
racetrack at Charles Town Races in West Virginia, and operates the Casino Rama,
a gaming facility located approximately 90 miles north of Toronto, Canada,
pursuant to a management contract.

Contact:

     Penn National Gaming
     William J. Clifford, 610/373-2400
        or
     Jaffoni & Collins Incorporated
     Joseph N. Jaffoni, 212/835-8500
     penn@jcir.com