Foxwood's pipe dream of endless tax-free expansion and 6-figure incomes for tribal members, constructed on a mountain of debt collapsed with declining revenues and poor management that the Tribe resolved by simply defaulting on debts. After all, when you're "Sovereign," you don't have to pay your bills, right?
After dragging the swamp, Foxwood finally found a second willing partner in Harrah's, already so mired in deep debt, it was forced to withdraw a recent $575 million offering.
SugarHouse, Philadelphia's recently opened Slot Barn has already proven unable to assure patrons of safety and revenues are declining. The Glitter is fading quickly when you risk being pistol-whipped.
Casino-Free Philadelphia got it right!
Remember, Pennsylvania legislators passed legislation at midnight on the 4th of July, amidst some pretty ethical questions.
Amidst the Probation Dept. scandal, one would hope that Beacon Hill is watching.
Pa. regulators extend Philly casino project's life
HARRISBURG, Pa.
Backers of a long-struggling casino project in Philadelphia received a few more weeks from state gambling regulators on Thursday to show the regulators that they can get the financing and other crucial elements to get it built.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board voted unanimously to give another extension to the group that controls a license originally issued in 2006 to build the Foxwoods Philadelphia Casino along the city's Delaware River waterfront.
However, strong political and neighborhood opposition have delayed the casino, while its original financing collapsed during the tumultuous economy and financial problems for the Mashantucket Pequot tribe, a key investor that operates the huge Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut.
"Frankly, the financial bailout took much less time than this has taken," board member Ken Trujillo told project lawyers during the meeting. "General Motors today, I think, has gone public at $30 a share after having been bailed out. And so multitrillion-dollar complex transactions have taken place and companies have already been resuscitated in the time that this deal has been out there."
Last month, the Foxwoods group said the world's biggest casino operator, privately held Harrah's Entertainment Inc., was willing to invest in and manage the property, which could become the second casino in Philadelphia.
Harrah's also owns the casino and racetrack in Chester, about 20 miles south of Philadelphia, and SugarHouse Casino opened in September, a mile or so up the river.
Trujillo and the six other board members tabled a license revocation motion until the board's next meeting, on Dec. 16. The Foxwoods group now has until Dec. 10 to submit paperwork to the gaming board's enforcement office, which is seeking the revocation.
During the public meeting occasionally interrupted by hecklers from Casino Free Philadelphia, project lawyers Fred Jacoby and Bill Downey appealed to the gaming board for more time.
Three key documents -- a partnership purchase agreement, a limited partnership agreement and a management agreement -- are nearing completion, they said.
"They are, I guess, effectively the holy trinity of this deal and we remain convinced that we can get this done," Downey said. "We've got an awful lot of businesspeople and an awful lot of lawyers exerting significant effort to address the remaining issues."
The casino project now being proposed by the Foxwoods group is a lot smaller than the one originally promised to the gaming board in 2006, and board members would have to approve the changes, as well as changes to the financial and ownership arrangements.
Foxwoods is one of three casino projects in Pennsylvania that ran into serious problems, and the last of the 11 original licensees from 2006 to open its doors. Foxwoods has faced daily fines of $2,000 -- more than $700,000 to date -- since failing to meet a Dec. 1, 2009, deadline imposed by the gaming board to provide information about its financing, design and construction.
Originally, the partnership planned to open with 3,000 slot machines in late 2008.
But the Philadelphia City Council opposed the Foxwoods location and tried to stall construction by withholding approval of necessary zoning changes. When Foxwoods flirted with changing the location off the waterfront and into downtown Philadelphia, the gaming board ordered it back to its original property and last year began threatening to yank the license.
As the Mashantucket Pequot tribe's financial woes mounted, the group, which includes a group of influential Philadelphia-area businessmen, began scaling back plans for the casino and searching for another major investor.
It found one: international casino impresario Steve Wynn, who mysteriously pulled out in April, less than two months after pledging to rescue the project.
If the gaming board revokes the Foxwoods license, it could then begin accepting new applications for it. However, Jacoby warned Thursday that a costly and time-consuming lawsuit is sure to come first.
"We believe that that's Armageddon," Jacoby said. "All that does is throw this whole thing ... two or three years of litigation."
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4 comments:
Harrah's isn't part of Sugarhouse. They will be a 1/3 investor in Foxwoods. They are not permitted to own or invest in anymore than that, by State Law since they already own their own Casino.
And to be honest you can get mugged or shot coming out of a bar. So should we close all the bars in the city?
Rickb,
Thanks for the clarification.
Spoken like a true defender!
An examination of crime statistics will indicated that whereever Slot Barns are operated, they increase crime.
Bars that draw crime are easily addressed at a local level and when does that crime involve following someone home and pistol whipping them?
Let's not pretend increased crime in connection with Slot Barns is unknown.
SugarHouse has only been open for a short period of time. Wait until Gambling Addiction becomes so rampant that it invades surrounding communities.
Slot Barns, by whatever euphemistic name, exist because of Gambling Addiction.
Sorry but not every one who goes to a Casino to gamble has a problem. Is everyone who goes into a bar an Alcoholic? You are painting people with a very broad brush. I'm not denying it does present an increase in crime and other social problems but if you really delve into crime stats you'll see that any major opening whether a nightclub or shopping mall will raise the crime stats for that area.
Rickb,
For the sake of full disclosure, you should post which casino vulture employs you.
Barring that, your comments are misleading.
Whether one considers Harrah's numbers of 90% of revenue originating from 10% of patrons or the 80%/20% figure disclosed by others, this is a Predatory Industry that profits by creating Gamblers and creating Gambling Addiction.
There is more than enough information posted in this forum to disprove your propaganda, but consider this:
His research compared crime at Las Vegas to that at high-tourist destinations not associated with gambling – Branson, Mo.; and the Mall of America in
Bloomington, Minn.
Las Vegas’ crime rate is 1,040 percent higher than Branson’s and 15.7 times higher than Bloomington’s, Grinols reported, although both destinations draw far
more visitors per resident than does Las Vegas.
A similar pattern is found
when comparing crime rates at large tourist destinations in the National Park System to Las Vegas.
Introducing the analogy to alcohol doesn't work! It's a specious argument and indicates your direction.
Before we get there, Exploding Myths: Alcohol:
Casino Shills frequently raise the argument of alcholism and alcohol addiction to dismiss the hazards of Predatory Gambling.
Here's a list of a few things to consider in response to that defense:
How is it different than alcohol?
- Robert Mondavi drank the wine he made. Jim Koch (of Sam Adams Beer) drinks his own beer. Casino owners don’t use their own “product.” Nor do most of those who promote casinos like Cahill, Rosenberg, etc.
- The buzz or high you get is different than alcohol. It’s a cocaine-like high. No beer, wine or whiskey I’ve ever tasted has given me a high like I’m on cocaine.
- Drinking a beer or sipping a glass of wine does not offer the false promise of life-changing riches or the lure of giving me money for doing nothing
- If predatory gambling and drinking a beer are the same thing, then why is it that casinos are owned by millionaires (and billionaires) and the local tavern owner is usually just a regular guy?
- Plain and simple: anyone who compares drinking alcohol to using a predatory gambling product is not an experienced gambler. They did not call our country’s economic crisis “Napa Valley capitalism.” They called it “casino capitalism” - using predatory practices, financial gimmicks and something-for-nothing schemes to promote an illusion of free money, all at the expense of unsuspecting Americans.
As you are fully aware, Gambling Addiction has the lowest rate of self-referral and the highest rate of suicide and attempted suicide.
So, that's the 'societal problem' you so lightly dismiss to enrich wealthy investors?
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