The Corruption surrounding Predatory Gambling legislation in Pennsylvania is daunting!

From Bill Kearney:
The article below is a must read, it will give you a good idea of how this ‘SCAM’ known today as ‘GAMING’ seduces lawmakers, business operators, professional people, especially lawyers, and those who chose to participate in this so-called form of entertainment.

Here are some key facts that were left out of the article.

Bluhm’s associate, Greg Carlin, is his son in-law. In 2006 Blum like other category one Pennsylvania casino operators paid 50 million dollars for his gaming license. Those licenses back then were valued at 400 to 500 million. One of the reasons for selling these lessens so cheap was because of the 55% tax on gaming revenues. The other reason was the casino operators pledged to build gaming properties that would compare with Atlantic City and Las Vegas, but none of them keep their pledge.

Now it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that greed is the only reason why auto dealership magnate, Robert Potamkin and powerhouse Philadelphia lawyer Richard A. Sprague are upset with Bluhm and his son in-law Greg Carlin, but what’s puzzling to me is how anyone would won’t a casino to be their ‘legacy.’

Phila. investor in SugarHouse criticizes planned expansion

August 16, 2012|By Jennifer Lin, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

WILMINGTON - A local investor in the SugarHouse Casino on Thursday criticized a proposed expansion of the site as "cheapening" the image of Philadelphia's first gaming hall.

"We want a first-class casino, not something cheesy," said Robert Potamkin, a Philadelphia auto dealership magnate, during testimony in Chancery Court. "And we want some control over it."

In a 12th-floor courtroom, the very private investors behind the SugarHouse Casino are locked in a very public battle over the future of the riverfront casino on Delaware Avenue in Fishtown and Northern Liberties.


It's Philadelphia vs. Chicago, with local backers of the casino arguing that the planned expansion should require a "supermajority" vote that effectively gives them veto power.

Though Potamkin was the only local investor to testify, he was joined in the courtroom by powerhouse Philadelphia lawyer Richard A. Sprague and former state Supreme Court Justice William Lamb of Chester County.

The Philadelphia side had its say for more than five hours. Chicago investor and billionaire developer Neil Bluhm is expected to testify Friday.

Bluhm and associate Greg Carlin control two-thirds of the casino through various partnerships and act as general partners. They have invested about $80 million of their own equity in the project.

In April 2011, Bluhm unveiled a plan to expand SugarHouse - the second revision since the group was awarded a license in 2006.

The original $742 million blueprint for SugarHouse was scaled back substantially in 2009, a move supported by all investors and endorsed by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

The investors spent $395 million to build the first phase, which opened in September 2010.
But that 2009 plan was altered last year by Bluhm, who presented a modified version with fewer slot machines and restaurants, and a lower parking garage with fewer indoor spaces.

Local investors, led by Potamkin and Sprague, objected and sued in Chancery Court in a bid to change the plan through a supermajority vote.

"We were building less - much less - than what we had promised the Gaming Control Board," Potamkin said.

Instead of increasing the number of slots to 3,000, the expansion would bring the total to only 2,000; instead of 3,000 spots in an indoor garage, there would be only 1,500, he testified.

Potamkin said SugarHouse's general manager, Wendy Hamilton, also questioned the scope of the expansion. "She said we're crazy for not building bigger," he said.


http://articles.philly.com/2012-08-16/news/33233710_1_sugarhouse-casino-wendy-hamilton-robert-potamkin