Rendell now says one Philly casino may be enough

Six years after he expanded gambling in Pennsylvania and pushed for two slots parlors in Philadelphia, Gov. Rendell on Monday conceded that one casino may be enough for the city.

"We'll have to take a look at that and see if there's another area that's underserved," Rendell said when asked about legislators' call to put the failed Foxwoods casino license up for bid outside Philadelphia.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board on Dec. 16 revoked the license it awarded in late 2006 to a group of Rendell allies who partnered with the Mashantucket Pequot tribe in what was to be the first Foxwoods Casino outside Connecticut.

Rendell and others had envisioned casinos as catalysts for revitalizing the Delaware River waterfront. But the partnership, led by entrepreneur Lewis Katz, developer Ronald Rubin, and Comcast-Spectacor president Ed Snider, struggled from the start. Neighborhood and political opposition, and later financing problems, repeatedly delayed its progress.

At one time, the group proposed moving away from the Delaware River site in South Philadelphia to Center City, then returned to the original location. The most recent proposed partnership with Harrah's Entertainment did not convince the Gaming Control Board that Foxwoods would be built.

Foxwoods has until Jan. 24 to appeal the decision.

In December, legislators frustrated with Philadelphia's inability to build a casino - and contribute to the property- and wage-tax relief envisioned from casino proceeds - began drafting bills to take the license outside the city.

The 2004 gaming law authorized 14 casinos across the state, specifying two full-blown slots parlors in Philadelphia and one in Pittsburgh. After overcoming community and political obstacles, SugarHouse Casino opened in Philadelphia this summer on North Delaware Avenue on the border of the city's Fishtown and Northern Liberties sections.

With SugarHouse's numbers falling short of those reached by established casinos just outside the city, Rendell was asked by a reporter whether the market was saturated.

With SugarHouse, the Parx casino in Bensalem, and Harrah's Chester in Chester City, along with a license for a smaller "resort" casino at Valley Forge in litigation, Rendell on Monday said it was "a fair question."

"I don't have the answer, and that's a question which I hope the gaming commission and the legislature studies," said Rendell, who made his comments during a news conference in Philadelphia on state revenue reports.

If the Valley Forge Convention Center wins an appeal of its license award, he said, "you'll have 31/2 full-blown casinos serving the metropolitan area" in addition to three casinos in Bethlehem and the Poconos.

"The one thing we don't want to do is cannibalize business," Rendell said. "As of right now, the only place we've cannibalized is other states."

Philadelphia and its school district have been promised revenue from a second city casino, so those budgets would be affected, but Rendell said: "That can only be part of the consideration."

Mayor Nutter would not comment on the future of the Foxwoods license before the appeal was resolved.

"As matters now stand, there are to be two casinos in Philadelphia, and after a long and torturous process to get where we are now, the mayor has no interest in speculating on what might happen in the future," said Mark McDonald, Nutter's spokesman.

Rendell estimated in 2004 that the casinos would generate $1 billion for property-tax relief across the state, and wage-tax reductions in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

And while individual casinos' performances have exceeded expectations, with only 10 of the 14 casinos open the state was able to deliver about $773 million toward tax relief in 2010, according to Gaming Control Board revenue reports.

State Rep. Michael O'Brien, the Philadelphia Democrat who opposed Foxwoods tooth and nail based on its site, said Monday that Philadelphia obviously had enough casinos and that he would support moving the license out of the city to guarantee that SugarHouse survived.

O'Brien said Rendell should have come to that conclusion long before the end of his term. Gov.-elect Tom Corbett - who has not taken a position on the status of the license - is to be sworn in Jan. 18.

"Sadly, he's come to this realization too late in his tenure to do anything about it," O'Brien said.

William R. Miller IV, a principal in the proposed Riverwalk Casino that was among three bidders in Philadelphia that lost out to SugarHouse and Foxwoods, said another casino would work in Philadelphia, especially with the addition of table games.

His group's research, along with other studies offered by Rendell, showed the city could support two casinos.

"This city needs additional revenue, and as a business owner, resident, and someone who is heavily burdened by taxes, I could use the relief," said Miller, who, along with others, has complained that the awarding of licenses was tainted by political influence.

Miller called for a more "open and transparent" process to award the license in Philadelphia.

"Give a real group a chance to make a world-class venue," he said, "and not simply a slot parlor."