SugarHouse license extension hearing to be held in Philadelphia

The upcoming hearing at which SugarHouse Casino will ask the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to extend its operating license and allow changes to its design has been moved to Philadelphia.

The May 6 meeting will be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, in room 204A. It had been scheduled to take place at the State Museum Auditorium in Harrisburg.

Local activists did not think it made sense to hold a meeting about a Philadelphia project in Harrisburg. Asian Americans United board member Helen Gym said after the original Harrisburg location was announced that her organization would ask the Board for a venue change.

According to a Gaming Control Board press release, Board Chairman Mary DiGiacomo Colins said the location change was made to better accommodate those individuals who wish to view the proceedings or testify. A board spokesman said there was no further comment on the matter.

The hearing will begin immediately after the Board’s regularly scheduled 9 a.m. meeting.  Anyone who wishes to speak to the board or submit written comments must make arrangements to do so by noon on Friday, because the board will not accept either written testimony or a request to speak at the hearing after that time – and that goes for public officials, too.

Those who wish to speak can register either by phone or on-line. Contacting Board Secretary Mickey Kane at 717-346-8300 or go to the PGCB website.

Written comments can also be submitted through the PGCB website. Or they can be mailed to the PA Gaming Control Board, P.O. Box 69060, Harrisburg, PA 17106, Attention: Board Secretary, or faxed to 717-346-8350.

Comments provided at the April 8, 2009 board meeting in Harrisburg will be placed into the record.

–Posted by Kellie Patrick Gates