Multiple appeals filed against casino license for South Philly
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It’s not all smooth sailing for a proposed casino in South Philadelphia.
Three losing bidders in the casino sweepstakes and Sugarhouse, Philly’s first gaming hall, have all appealed the decision to award the casino license to a group that includes owners of Parx casino in Bensalem.
Frank Keel represents Bart Blatstein, whose Provence casino was proposed for North Broad Street in the old Philadelphia Inquirer building.
“The gaming act prohibits entities that have catagory 1 licenses, that is racetracks to even apply for a catagory 2 license which is slot machines and Parx owns a race track in Bensalem,” Keel said.
Wendy Hamilton from Sugarhouse says the casino market is saturated.
“You’ve got plenty of casinos and right now we are looking for a little bit more demand.”
Both arguments were known during the selection process. Once the license appeal is settled, a lawsuit will likely follow.
This also happens as four casinos in Atlantic City were shut down this year and a fifth might close in 2015.
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