Casino-racetrack redesign presented

Greenwood Gaming & Entertainment Inc., which owns and operates Philadelphia Park Casino & Racetrack, unveiled its plan for a $250 million casino before the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board yesterday.

The move capped months of accusations and counteraccusations between Greenwood and the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association over the company's commitment to build a new facility.

"Today, we made it clear we are off and running," said Dave Jonas, president and chief operating officer of Philadelphia Park, after his team presented its plan to the board in Harrisburg. "If there were misunderstandings before, I believe they have been cleared up."

The casino will include a 250,000-square-foot complex with 4,000 slot machines, a multipurpose entertainment center, sleek bars and high-tech cocktail lounges, and restaurants.

The board will vote Dec. 18 on Greenwood's plan, the same day its conditional license expires. If the plan is approved, the company will get a permanent gambling license.

In May, the executive director of the horsemen's group accused Greenwood of bait-and-switch tactics when it failed to present a master plan for its casino and, instead, asked the seven-member gaming board to convert its conditional license to run the existing Bensalem facility into a permanent one.

Jonas said the company needed the additional time to get its new slots parlor up and running and to study the regional slots competition. Philadelphia Park debuted in December 2006 with about 2,100 slot machines.

Yesterday, the horsemen's group's leader said he was pleased with Greenwood's new plan.

"This is certainly a major step of having a plan, because they had no plan before," said Salvatore M. DeBunda, first vice president and a director of the horsemen's group, which represents 4,000 owners and trainers at Philadelphia Park.

DeBunda, who testified before the board yesterday, urged the board to stay vigilant, since Philadelphia Park's owner had failed to meet its original target date of late 2008 for a new casino.

"We're hoping if they get this plan approved that, over the next two years, they get the casino built and restore the grandstand to where it was," he said. "We're willing to tolerate that if it's only for two years and, at the end of the day, we get what we were promised."

A key goal of the Pennsylvania gambling law signed by Gov. Rendell in July 2004 is to help the state's fledgling horse-racing industry. Seven of the 14 slots licenses were designated for racetracks.

DeBunda said yesterday that money for purses, breeders, and health-care benefits for his group members was up significantly because of slots revenue.

However, he said, on-track handle - or actual betting on horses - was down 13 percent since the beginning of the year.

Under the casino plan, the horse-racing tier of the existing grandstand at Philly Park will be renovated, and sections of the grandstand that are being used for gambling will be rededicated to racing activities.

Board chairwoman Mary DiGiacomo Colins said that, to get board approval, it was critical for Greenwood to show a facility that fully integrated the slots business and the racetrack.

"We really need to nail down the details," she said, "so we are satisfied that the racing business is fully enhanced and complemented by the slot-machine operation."

Since it got its conditional license in December 2005, Jonas said, the company has invested $150 million in upgrades to the structure that includes the grandstand. He said that, combined with the new casino, Greenwood's investment would be $400 million.

Jonas said that groundbreaking would be in March, if they get approved Dec. 18, and that the casino was slated for a late-2009 opening.

Jonas said his team needed the additional time for the plan since they were consumed with getting the facility operational. They were also assessing the growing regional competition, namely three new billion-dollar-plus casinos that were announced for Atlantic City.

"We were spending a lot of time growing our database and getting our ducks in line that were necessary to build a casino like this," he said. "We have a much bigger project than we originally conceived."

Jonas said Phase 1 for the new casino was ramped up to 4,000 slot machines from 3,000 in the original master plan that was drawn up two years ago.

A new facade and the grand entryway were also added. He said his team also planned a big poker room for the third floor of the existing facility - just in case the Pennsylvania General Assembly approved table games in the near future.