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State gaming board moves to revoke Foxwoods license, rejecting request for more time

HARRISBURG - The Foxwoods casino saga, already filled with enough twists for a Chubby Checker album, added another one yesterday as the legal arm of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board initiated proceedings that could result in the revocation of the gaming license, held by Philadelphia Entertainment and Development Partners LP.

HARRISBURG - The Foxwoods casino saga, already filled with enough twists for a Chubby Checker album, added another one yesterday as the legal arm of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board initiated proceedings that could result in the revocation of the gaming license, held by Philadelphia Entertainment and Development Partners LP.

Moments after the seven-member gaming commission unanimously voted down PEDP's request for a 180-day extension on its time limit to submit new plans for development of the controversial Columbus Boulevard and Reed Street site, Cyrus Pitre, the gaming board's chief legal counsel, announced he had authorized a petition asking for the revocation of Foxwoods' license.

But, he added, Foxwoods - a joint venture of family trusts headed by sports and entertainment mogul Ed Snider, New Jersey businessman and philanthropist Lewis Katz and Philadelphia uberdeveloper Ron Rubin - could nullify the revocation process by bringing to the table agreeable terms upon which to continue developing the proposed gambling den.

Pitre's announcement also came moments after the gaming board gave Foxwoods five days to pay the $114,000 in accrued fines ($2,000 for each of past 57 days) it owes for not meeting a deadline to provide details on how the casino would be built.

Attorney Fred Jacoby, who represented Foxwoods before the board, was not available for comment after Pitre made his intentions known. But just before Pitre broke his news, Jacoby expressed dismay at the board's rulings.

It also refused to keep secret the contents of a consent decree - the proposed agreement submitted on behalf of Foxwoods that would have given the partners more time to find more partners.

"We're surprised and disappointed," he said. "We think the consent decree was fair."

Jacoby, who said at least three parties were interested in partnering with PEDP, had hoped to buy his client time to find new investors in the wake of gambling mogul Steve Wynn's recent withdrawal from the Foxwoods project.

Coincidentally, shortly after Pitre dropped his revocation bombshell, Wynn, on a conference call with local investors, indicated he would pursue the Foxwoods license should it ultimately be revoked.

Wynn told his audience he likes the tax rate - 14 percent - on table games approved by the state General Assembly in January, but finds the 53 percent tax on slot-machine revenues "still a little too high." As to why he backed out of the Foxwoods deal, Wynn was tight-lipped, saying only that the project "became unattractive to us at the last minute."

Attending yesterday's gaming board meeting were about two dozen members of Casino-Free Philadelphia, the grass-roots organization that opposes gaming halls because of their use of "predatory" practices like offering comps - complimentary goods and services - and easy credit to lure and keep gamblers. The mostly silent protesters bore signs with slogans like "Enough Already" and "Revoke!"

According to Paul Boni, the group's attorney, the commencement of the revocation process - which by all accounts could take several years to resolve - was at best a hollow victory for the anti-casino crowd.

"The license should have been resolved a year ago," Boni insisted. "We don't need one predatory casino, let alone two." He vowed that his group would ultimately succeed in its battle to keep a second Philadelphia casino from becoming reality.

And once that mission is completed, he promised, "we're gonna shut down" SugarHouse, the riverfront casino going up on the edge of Fishtown.

Staff writer Chris Brennan contributed to this report.