Friday, December 22, 2006

Pennsylvania gambling regulators cleared the way Wednesday for Philadelphia
to become the nation's largest city with a casino, while rejecting Donald
Trump's bid for a slot-machine parlor and plans for another casino near the
Gettysburg battlefield. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board chose from
among 13 groups of casino giants, politically connected investors,
celebrities and nationally known developers when it awarded five licenses
for standalone slot parlors. Philadelphia will surpass Detroit as the
largest U.S. city with casinos. Winners include groups led by billionaire
Chicago-based developer Neil G. Bluhm and the Connecticut-based Mashantucket
Pequot Tribal Nation; each plans to build on the city's riverfront. "We're
thrilled and delighted. We're very excited and we're going to build a great
project," Bluhm said. "We want to do something really special here." The
gaming board rejected an application by Trump's casino company for a casino
in northwest Philadelphia. And it rejected a proposal by Isle of Capri
Casinos Inc. to build a gaming house in Pittsburgh. The board awarded 11
permanent slots licenses, each allowing as many as 5,000 machines. Six
licenses are earmarked for the state's horse-racing tracks. So far, two
racetracks -- Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs and Philadelphia Park -- have
opened slot parlors under conditional licenses, and racetracks in Chester
and near Erie are expected to open slot parlors in the next two months. Gov.
Ed Rendell rejuvenated a 25-year drive to legalize casino-style gambling in
Pennsylvania by promising that slot revenues will help reduce property taxes
and revive the state's declining horse-racing industry. The law passed in
2004 authorized up to 61,000 slot machines at 14 sites.