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Posted on Tue, Jan. 10, 2006 | |
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Slots applicants named Some appear simply as "minor child," but politicians and other prominent people are listed. Inquirer Staff Writer Two former governors, two current SEPTA board members, and several unidentified "minor children" were among the names of applicants for slots parlor licenses released yesterday by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.
While the state released a list of 595 names in connection with the 25 applications, many of those names were limited partnerships, such as YO! Gaming L.L.C. and FDC/PEDP G.P. L.L.C., that would have other individuals connected with them. Some of the names, such as Donald J. Trump and Neil Bluhm - both billionares - had been disclosed previously as they maneuvered to control land to develop a casino. Other names had not previously surfaced, such as former New Jersey Gov. Jim Florio, who is listed as part of TrumpStreet Casino & Entertainment Complex, a proposed $350 million casino for the city's Nicetown section. Florio said yesterday that he was only a board member of Donald Trump's casino company, Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., and not an investor in the proposed Philadelphia project. Paul Cellucci, who was governor of Massachusetts from mid-1997 to early 2001, is listed as a senior executive of Magna Entertainment Corp., the parent company of the Meadows racetrack in Western Pennsylvania. The state agency's list also has entries such as "minor child 1" and "minor child 2" as applicants for several of the slots parlors. Board spokesman Nick Hays said those represent trusts formed on behalf of certain children of the casino operators and investors. Other well-known names on the list: SEPTA board chairman Pasquale T. Deon and SEPTA vice chairman James C. Schwartzman. They are listed under a group of investors seeking a slots license for the former Bethlehem Steel plant in Bethlehem. Deon has contributed more than $200,000 to state-level caindidates, most of them Republicans, and political action committees since 2000, according to campaign finance records. The list of names includes board members and senior executives of several large casino operators, as well as developers and investors in the various proposed slots parlor projects. Amid the columns of names are sprinkled some of the gambling industry's most powerful people: Gary Loveman, chief executive officer of Harrah's Entertainment Inc.; Robert M. Haddock, CEO of Aztar Corp.; Peter M. Carlino, CEO of Penn National Gaming Inc.; Sheldon G. Adelson, CEO of the Venetian Casino Resort; and William S. Boyd, CEO of Boyd Gaming Corp. "You pretty much have every prominent operator represented with the exception of Steve Wynn and MGM," said Brian McGill, an analyst who tracks gambling companies for Bala Cynwyd-based Susquehanna Financial Group.
Two of the 17 applicants for the five stand-alone slots parlor licenses are going it alone with no local partners: Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. out of Las Vegas, and Scranton businessman Louis A. DeNaples. Pinnacle is a casino company with no local partners; DeNaples has no casino company listed as a partner. A previously undisclosed entry for a license is Trum Construction Co., which wants to build a slots parlor in West Homestead, near Pittsburgh. The board received six applications for the seven licenses that are to be awarded to racetracks. Hays said the board hoped to begin issuing conditional licenses for the tracks by late summer Hays said the 10-member board would award the licenses within 12 months from the day the applications were deemed complete, which was yesterday. Center City attorney John J. Tipton, a former head of the Colorado Division of Gaming and coauthor of Colorado's gambling law, said Pennsylvania's review of the applicants should go fairly smoothly, given that many already have a track record in other states. For example, Harrah's Entertainment Inc., which is behind the Harrah's Chester Casino & Racetrack - a racino being built in Chester, Delaware County - operates in 12 states and three countries. What shouldn't be too difficult for the board is deciding the two resort licenses that would permit up to 500 slot machines. There were only two applicants for those: Seven Springs Farm Inc. in Somerset County and Woodlands Fayette L.L.C. in Farmington. |
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