Gaming board to mull killing Foxwoods license

HARRISBURG - For enforcement lawyers with the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, the Foxwoods Casino project in South Philadelphia should be judged on what it is today: broke and overdue.

"Here's the bottom line," said Dale Miller, the board's deputy chief enforcement counsel. "There's a vacant lot on Columbus Boulevard that doesn't have a casino on it."

But Stephen A. Cozen, a lawyer representing Foxwoods, urged the seven commissioners to focus on what the project could become: a thriving partnership with Harrah's Entertainment Inc., open for business in 20 months.

Local investors have "the wherewithal to continue operating and secure financing, and the development skills to complete the project," Cozen said.

After more than two hours of testimony Wednesday on whether to revoke the Foxwoods license or give partners more time to make a casino materialize, the board opted to postpone a decision until its next meeting, Nov. 18.

Gaming board chairman Gregory Fajt acknowledged that the Foxwoods partners had a new plan in the works. But he added, "We're not going to stall the revocation process based on a plan we know nothing about."

On Tuesday, the original Foxwoods group - called Philadelphia Entertainment and Development Partners (PEDP) - announced that it was teaming up with Harrah's to finance, build, and operate a casino on Columbus Boulevard, between Tasker and Reed Streets.

Since April, lawyers representing the board have contended the project was financially unfit and unable to meet the terms of its existing license: to have 1,500 slot machines operational by May 29, 2011.

"They absolutely can't do it," Miller said at the Wednesday hearing.

But Cozen said state law allowed the investor group to file for an extension until Dec. 31, 2012.

Before the next board meeting, he said, PEDP should be able to file a petition to change the ownership of the project to include Harrah's, as well as request a license extension.

"We'll do everything we can to move heaven and earth to have a definitive decision" with Harrah's, Cozen said.

Cozen argued that the motion to revoke the license was unconstitutional, that the standard for gauging the project's financial suitability was vague.

Commissioners, however, expressed doubts about the Harrah's deal.

Fajt warned Cozen that the board had been "over-the-top patient" with PEDP. He reminded Cozen that six months earlier, commissioners had heard testimony from Las Vegas casino tycoon Steve Wynn about his intended rescue of Foxwoods.

"Nothing has been done on this project," Fajt said. "You're farther away from putting a shovel in the ground today than you were in 2006," when the license was awarded.

While it made no decision on revoking the Foxwoods license, the board did implement a second round of fines against PEDP: $362,000, to be paid by Nov. 12.

Harrah's, the nation's largest gambling enterprise, has signed a term sheet with PEDP to build, finance, and operate a casino with 1,500 slot machines and table games. The company would take an equity position in the project and work with PEDP to raise additional money through loans and equity from other new investors.