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Philadelphia wins approval for casino gambling

December 22, 2006

Pennsylvania gambling regulators cleared the way Wednesday for Philadelphia to become the nation's largest city with a casino, while rejecting Donald Trump's bid for a slot-machine parlor and plans for another casino near the Gettysburg battlefield.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board chose from among 13 groups of casino giants, politically connected investors, celebrities and nationally known developers when it awarded five licenses for standalone slot parlors.

Philadelphia will surpass Detroit as the largest U.S. city with casinos.

Winners include groups led by billionaire Chicago-based developer Neil G. Bluhm and the Connecticut-based Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation; each plans to build on the city's riverfront.

"We're thrilled and delighted. We're very excited and we're going to build a great project," Bluhm said. "We want to do something really special here."

The gaming board rejected an application by Trump's casino company for a casino in northwest Philadelphia. And it rejected a proposal by Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. to build a gaming house in Pittsburgh.

The board awarded 11 permanent slots licenses, each allowing as many as 5,000 machines. Six licenses are earmarked for the state's horse-racing tracks.

So far, two racetracks -- Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs and Philadelphia Park -- have opened slot parlors under conditional licenses, and racetracks in Chester and near Erie are expected to open slot parlors in the next two months.

Gov. Ed Rendell rejuvenated a 25-year drive to legalize casino-style gambling in Pennsylvania by promising that slot revenues will help reduce property taxes and revive the state's declining horse-racing industry. The law passed in 2004 authorized up to 61,000 slot machines at 14 sites.

-- Detroit Free Press

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