One Casino Applicant Says Its South Philly Site Is Getting Short Shrift
By Justin Udo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- One of the five remaining groups in contention for Philadelphia's second casino license says they don't feel they are getting a fair shot at it.
A. Bruce Crawley, a spokesman for PHL Local Gaming, says the city has a clear bias toward putting the new casino in center city. And since their proposed site is in a warehouse district of South Philadelphia, he says, they are being brushed aside.
"We don't want any special consideration, but we do want to be fairly covered," Crawley said today.
He says the group has been trying to work with the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board and other regulators throughout the application process.
"We gave the City Planning Commission 152 pages of input," Crawley said. "Anything they asked for, we gave them." But he says all of that input has fallen on deaf ears:
"We gave them information on 'Early Open,' the economic impact related thereto. We gave them impact information of five thousand slots. None of it was used."
Of the four other casinos in competition, two are proposing locations in center city. Las Vegas mogul Steve Wynn pulled out of the competition earlier this week (see related story).
PHL Local Gaming has boasted of its ability to develop its proposed site into a casino much sooner than competitors (see related story).
A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board said the agency is considering all five remaining casino applicants equally.
