Foxwoods license goes up for bid?

[seand]

Pennsylvania legislators in the House are poised to approve legislation as early as Tuesday to hold a statewide auction for the coveted license. The minimum bid, according to the legislation, would be $65 million, and the state Gaming Control Board would have the ultimate say over where, and to whom, the new casino should go.

“This would let the free market determine what price we would get for the casino,” said Rep. Curt Schroder (R., Chester), the bill’s sponsor. “It would also allow the market to guide the gaming board as to where the license should go.”

Southeastern Pennsylvania already is host to Parx in Bensalem, Harrah’s in Chester, Sugar House in Philadelphia, and the Sands in Bethlehem, plus the recently opened Valley Forge Casino Resort. Last year, state Treasurer Rob McCord — an ex-officio member of the Gaming Control Board — released an analysis of Pennsylvania’s gaming market that found that while some indicators pointed to the beginning of a saturated market, gaming revenues were expected to continue growing, if at a slower clip. The market analysis, conducted for his office by an outside firm, identified 11 alternative sites and market for a gaming facility. The top two: southern York County (because there aren’t any other casinos in that region) and the area around Reading in Berks County.

Foxwoods license could be up for grabs soon

Looking rocky for Blattstein's proposal.

[mixiboi]

IT was a long shot, as the other state losers were hungry for a casino to put in their backyard.

[raider.adam]

The best part of the saga is watching Nutter go from anti-casino to pleading to keep the 2nd one in Philadelphia.

[Naveen]

How much money does the city make from Sugar House?

[mixiboi]

How much money does the city make from Sugar House?

A lot...but it does/doesn't matter if we have one casino or two on how much money the city receives, as that number doesn't determines the money we get.


There were plenty of reasons why Philly was going to get two...That reason now is jobs. Its just a complicated, sad mess.

[seand]

It sounds like a Philly proposal could bid as well as any other, but it would require having the high bid. Not sure how serious any other potential locations are at this point.

[ArcticSplash]

Given the crap that we went through prior to SugarHouse, I'm sure nobody expects that a bid will come in to put another one here. Even if it was located in the Logan Triangle where nobody lives, people would be screaming bloody murder about parking, house prices, the poor being victimized, etc.

All but the latter argument have no merit. We've had a number of Kensington residents lose their properties due to poor decision-making where Sugarhouse factored in. Not a lot, but enough.

It's probably a better idea to let the private market decide whether or not Pennsylvania should get another casino, and where it should go. Since we're the most densely-populated corner of the state--I would imagine SEPA would still be the likely place for another license.

[seand]

Fun and games in the State Senate once the bill to put it up for bid passes the House.

A top Republican in the Senate — the one who controls the flow of legislation to the floor, no less — is skeptical not just of whether there is enough consumer demand for another casino in Philadelphia, but whether all signs are pointing toward a saturated market for gambling statewide.

“We have to take a long-term look at the industry and its return to the state treasury,” Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware) said this week. “I think there is still an open question whether the commonwealth will benefit.”

Asked if he believed the bill would be brought to a floor vote between now and when the legislature breaks for the summer, Pileggi would only say: “It’s too soon to tell.”

Sen. Vincent Hughes (D., Phila.) opposes the House bill but for a different reason: He is angry at what he believes is a thinly veiled attempt to circumvent the original intent of the gaming law, which required two casino licenses be granted to Philadelphia.

“They need to stop all the foolishness, and they need to start that process of putting that license in Philadelphia,” said Hughes, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. “The law requires it. I don’t know why people feel like they can ignore the law.”

Hughes said that of any area in the state, Philadelphia is best positioned to host a successful gaming parlor that would keep sending much-needed revenue to the state to help lessen the sting of property tax bills. The law directs a portion of slot-machine proceeds to property-tax relief statewide and to wage-tax relief in the city of Philadelphia. Money also is supposed to go to economic development and tourism projects, among other uses.

“Stop getting in the way of extra property-tax relief for homeowners across the commonwealth,” said Hughes, arguing for keeping the license in the city. “Stop being a boil on the butt of progress.”

House OKs auction for casino license

Remember for those reading between the lines that Pileggi ran the GOP in Chester, championed Harrah's in Chester as a financial savior for Chester (which has not exactly happened). He, amazingly, gave Harrah's a big fat break on property taxes to build back when he thought the market wasn't saturated yet. Close political allies, also big donors, were investors in Harrah's and in the more recent state-subsidized soccer stadium as well.

My guess, he's a lot more concerned about the market being saturated in driving distance from Chester, for the rest of the state, not so much.

State Sen. Hughes, keep on keeping it classy.

[ArcticSplash]

I'm actually at a loss to name a casino that DOESN'T have a fraternal-type relationship with a pol. Remember when the sites were first announced, it was not a coinkidink that both were going in DiCicco's district and it was soon discovered that there was a relationship between Sugarhouse's backers and DiCicco.

For Foxwoods, the Great Recession stripped off the credit comforter that Foxwoods was living under, and its CT casino has its own problems (like staying up to date to attract people younger than 40, and Mohegan is easier to get to from NYC).

Any new licensee will probably set up shop far away from Harrah's I would imagine for the reasons you mention sean, and would need to pick up more of the GOP caucus support so Pileggi signs off on it.


Funny though after all these casinos opened their doors, how the debate in Harrisburg has quickly changed. Remember in 2010 when there would be no talk of table games, and how quickly that came and went? Now we're drifting closer to full-fledged resort establishments because our state is broke.

[seand]

German bashing (against the German-American "beer barrons" who bankrolled the opposition to Prohibition) after WWI in the boom years in the 1920's helped put Prohibition finally over the top in the 1920's. After the crash in the 1930's, FDR could not get it revoked fast enough to start to collect the tax revenue from alcohol again. Economic downturns have a history of changing the political lanscape for "sins".

[modernstyler]

There were plenty of reasons why Philly was going to get two...That reason now is jobs.

Another reason is the additional tax they can collect from this