Friday, January 28, 2011

Will Gaming License Be Rebid?

The head of Pennsylvania’s Gaming Control Board is warning lawmakers not to move too quickly on passing a law opening up a Philadelphia casino license to a statewide bid.
In December, the Gaming Control Board revoked the license of Philadelphia’s troubled Foxwoods casino, which never got up and running.
Its license is Philadelphia-specific, but the House Gaming Oversight Committee has now taken the first step toward changing the law, so anyone in the state could bid for the license.
During testimony, Board Chair Greg Fajt reminded the committee Foxwoods investors have challenged the revocation in court, and the case might take years to finish.
He warned against re-bidding the license before the matter is resolved.

"Again, who knows what somebody might do. But I think that somebody would have to get a lot of hard thought to spending a million dollars-plus to put together an application for a license that may not exist once this case has wound its way through the courts."

Committee Chair Curt Schroeder, a Chester County Republican, says the bill is a priority, but Republicans won’t rush it through the House.

"We’ll let the courts do their thing. We’ll work on it on our end in the legislature. And the timing will work itself out in the end, however that has to be."

He’s planning on taking a deliberative process, and holding several more hearings on the issue.

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