All 106 judges of the Common Pleas Court have been disqualified from deciding whether an anti-casino group has the required 20,000 signatures to get a zoning referendum question on the May primary ballot. An anti-referendum suit was filed last week at the Common Pleas Court by lawyers for SugarHouse, one of two companies selected by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) to build a casino in Philadelphia.

The ballot measure seeks to bar any casino within 1,500 ft of any home, school or place of worship, which could prevent the development of both the SugarHouse Casino and Foxwoods Casino. The elected city judges were disqualified so that any decision could not be considered politically motivated. A judge from outside the county will now preside over the court challenge and the lengthy proceedings to review the signatures. If the minimum 20,000 are verified, it will still need nine members of the City Council to approve a referendum.

In Pittsburgh two losing applicants have filed appeals against the PGCB selection with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. This could delay the projected opening of the Pittsburgh slots parlour to beyond 2008. The delay is also likely to cause the Penguins NHL team to move out of Pittsburgh to Kansas City. Originally a new arena was planned for them as part of the Isle of Capri bid for the slots licence. Don Barden, the selected casino licence applicant, agreed to contribute US$7.5 million a year for 30 years but this money cannot be forthcoming until the casino opens.

The 2004 gambling law in Pennsylvania allows a maximum 61,000 slot machines. The question of multi-player electronic table games is already being considered just weeks since the first Pennsylvania slots operations opened. To some the games, which have random odds, are a natural extension of slot machines. To others, the games circumvent prohibitions on table games. Last week the chairman of the PGCB told a state Senate hearing the games should be allowed. The regulators must now decide whether electronic table games are within Pennsylvania’s legal definition of a slot machine. (E-03.06.07)

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