A North American gaming company has set its sights on Gloucester Township as the future home of New Jersey's fifth off-track betting (OTB) facility.

Penn National Gaming Inc. has already entered into a lease agreement with the owners of the former Stone Grille, located at 1300 Blackwood Clementon Road, Gloucester Township Business Administrator Tom Cardis said Wednesday evening.

"It looks like they're very serious about coming here," Cardis said. "We welcome them."

The Wyomissing, PA-based company would like to open Favorites—a facility for wagering on horse racing, with a restaurant and bar—in Gloucester Township by this summer, but must first receive a series of local and state approvals, according to NJBiz.com, which broke the story Wednesday afternoon.

Stone Grille has been closed for several months now.

Cardis sees the Favorites at Gloucester Township OTB facility as one that will bring jobs to the township and customers to other businesses along Blackwood Clementon Road, including nearby restaurants Filomena and Cotardo's.

"It's a great opportunity for economic development," he said.

Penn National Gaming would open the Blackwood Clementon Road OTB facility with one of four OTB licenses granted to Freehold Raceway, on which it's a joint venture partner.

Penn National Gaming operates 29 gaming facilities in the United States and Canada, including Favorites at Toms River—the first OTB facility opened using a Freehold Raceway OTB licenses, according to the NJBiz.com report.

The closest Favorites to Gloucester Township is located on Delsea Drive in Vineland. The facility, which opened in March 2007, is operated by Greenwood Racing—which partnered with Penn National Gaming as Pennwood Racing to open Favorites at Toms River in 2008—and has roughly 50 employees.