Penn National Gaming has secured an 18-month option to purchase 36 acres of land in Perryville, Cecil County, Maryland, from Principio Iron Company LP.

The land is part of a 150-acre site proposed master planned development by Stewart Associates, a real estate development company. Stewart Associates’ master plan includes mixed-use retail, a hotel and a visitor’s center, the company said in its announcement Monday.

In November, Maryland will hold a state referendum in which voters will decide whether to authorize 15,000 slot machines in the city of Baltimore, and the counties of Allegheny, Anne Arundel, Cecil and Worcester. If the slot machines are approved, Penn National plans to apply for a gaming license and could invest $125 million to develop an entertainment center with 2,500 slots.

The 36-acre parcel of land in Cecil is located along Interstate 95 and borders Pennsylvania and Delaware along the Chesapeake Bay.

Deutsche Bank analyst Bill Lerner noted that the participation in Maryland “could act as a hedge and help mitigate the potential impact of the added competition” on the company’s Charles Town facility located in West Virginia. Current polling suggests a slight favorable margin north of 50 percent in favor of the referendum, Lerner said in a note to investors.

“Our interest in creating a facility in Maryland is consistent with the company’s long-term strategy to increase our scale and diversity in new and established regional gaming markets by leveraging our property development skills and financial resources,” said Peter Carlino, chief executive officer of Penn National. “We intend to support Maryland’s November slot machine referendum both financially and by educating voters on the potential economic benefits of new development in the state as we are committed to building distinctive entertainment centers that create jobs, tax revenues and other sustainable economic benefits for the regions where we operate.”

Carlino noted the optioned 36-acre site in Cecil County is an ideal location for investment, given its proximity to Delaware and the Baltimore and Philadelphia metropolitan regions. “Our proposed facility represents an excellent complement to Stewart Associates’ development which already includes plans for retail, a hotel and a visitor’s center,” he said. “We look forward to meeting with state and local officials, as well as local business leaders, to introduce Penn National and to discuss our vision to develop a large-scale entertainment facility which will bring direct economic benefits to the region and the state.”