Activists question casino's financing
Thursday, September 17th, 2009
By: Elizabeth Fiedler
efiedler@whyy.org
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board met yesterday in Harrisburg and approved the financing package of SugarHouse Casino in Philadelphia.
Before that meeting, opponents to Sugarhouse gathered outside the PNC Bank at 16th and Market Streets in Philadelphia to begin their new campaign.
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The casino opponents are targeting PNC Bank because they claim it plans to provide financing to Sugarhouse Casino – a venture they say would inflict financial damage on area families and businesses.
Jethro Heiko is a founder of Casino-Free Philadelphia:
Heiko: Just this week President Obama's been calling on Wall Street and banks like PNC to not make any more risks. Loans it's a risky loan for a lot of reasons. Increasingly people are realizing there's what's called market saturation: that there's too many casinos in the Mid Atlantic and in Pennsylvania.
Anti-casino activists have questioned whether Sugarhouse can get all of the necessary money to build the entire Casino project.