During April and May the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) has scheduled Public Input Hearings around the state before it decides which applicants are awarded casino licences. In Philadelphia there are two stand alone slots parlour licences available and five applicants, and two race track projects. The PGCB recently announced an additional day of hearings for proposed gaming facilities in the Philadelphia area, as it received over 1,000 petitions to speak. The hearings originally scheduled started yesterday and continue until 12 April. The final hearing will be on Friday 12 May, also on the campus of Drexel University.

Pinnacle Entertainment is one of the companies bidding for a Category 2 licence in Philadelphia. It plans a 3-phase development on the Delaware Riverfront with a total investment of around US$800 million. The first phase, costing between US$300 million to US$400 million, would include an 80,000 sq ft casino with 3,000 slot machines, a waterfront pool that would become an ice rink in winter, five restaurants and food court, a multiplex cinema and retail outlets. Phase 2 would enlarge the casino to 5,000 slot machines and add further entertainment and retail outlets, and Phase 3 would see the construction of a 500-room hotel tower plus a residential and office tower.

There are three other proposals for the Delaware River, but Donald Trump and associated applicants are bidding for a disused industrial site in northwest Philadelphia, claiming to have the only project that will totally transform a neighbourhood. All the applicants for the two standalone slots licences, including the Mashantucket Pequot tribe of Connecticut’s Foxwood Casino, are promising major benefits for the city of Philadelphia, which will become one of the biggest downtown gambling cities in the US. Millions of dollars for community projects and charities are envisaged, but not all members of local residents are convinced.

Philadelphia should make some US$25 million annually in gaming tax revenue. The PGCB must take into account public testimony as well as applicant credentials, sites and business plans before selecting the two winning bids in the city. In due course the state of Pennsylvania will issue a total of 14 licences for slot machine operations. (E-04.11.06)

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