State gaming board fires back in the battle over Foxwoods Casino’s revoked license
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board Wednesday asked state Commonwealth Court to uphold the board’s Dec. 16 decision to revoke Foxwoods Casino’s license, saying the team behind Foxwoods had multiple chances to meet the conditions set by the board and state gaming law, but failed to do so.
In a brief filed with the court in response to Philadelphia Entertainment Development Partner’s petition requesting that the court overturn the gaming board’s decision, attorneys for the board wrote that PEDP missed deadlines to provide definitive financial documents, renderings and construction time lines, and that it “did not have the requisite financial suitability to develop the casino for which the Board awarded it a license.”
The brief also states that PEDP had sufficient due process in proceedings before the board to prove otherwise and counters PEDP’s claims that the financial suitability requirements in state gaming law are so vague as to be unconstitutional.
Philadelphia Entertainment Development Partners said in its April petition that the board was wrong to revoke the license in the first place, in part because it used an incorrect legal test to revoke the license for financial suitability. It also stated that it and Caesars – the prospective new partner – have resolved all the issues that led the board to revoke the license.
In its Wednesday petition, the gaming board states that the plans presented with Caesars are too different from those the board approved when it granted PEDP its license.
WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.
Brought to you by PlanPhilly
PlanPhilly
In-depth, original reporting on housing, transportation, and development.