Lincoln Park measure altered

Elizabeth Zuckerman

Wednesday, July 13, 2005 | 9:03 a.m.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- After a day of negotiations between House leaders and the would-be buyers of the Lincoln Park gambling facility on Tuesday, both sides said the proposed legislation facilitating the sale had changed, and a clause that critics argued could derail plans for a West Warwick casino had been dropped.

Talks concluded Tuesday without a finalized deal, but a BLB Investors representative and House Speaker William Murphy said the so-called parity clause, which would have barred any new gambling facility in Rhode Island from paying a smaller share to the state than Lincoln Park, had been removed.

Murphy also said the term of BLB's contract to operate Lincoln Park has changed from the 18 years approved by the Senate, to three five-year terms. The contract would be renewable for each term if the facility met certain performance goals.

BLB Investors wants to purchase the Lincoln gambling facility and greyhound racetrack from the British firm Wembley PLC. First, it must work out a deal with the state on how to split millions of dollars in revenue from video lottery machines at the park and secure legislation allowing it to enter into a contract with the state to run the facility.

Len Wolman, co-CEO of the investors' group, said Tuesday that he is hopeful the legislation his group needs can be worked out, but that if it is not passed by Friday, the deal will fall apart.

"Our financing is contingent on us having legislation that's passed," Wolman said.

Murphy, D-West Warwick, left the Statehouse Tuesday evening saying the deal is not complete, but he believes it will completed this week, and he intends to have the House return to session Friday to vote on it.

"There is light at the end of the tunnel," he said.

House Finance Committee Chairman Steven Costantino, D-Providence, said House leaders were leaving leaving their staff to work on some unspecified issues Tuesday evening and Majority Leader Gordon Fox said the leadership expected to be back to work on the deal on Wednesday morning, in advance of a House Finance Committee hearing on the Lincoln Park bill. The hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m.

The Senate approved a bill delineating the terms of BLB's purchase of Lincoln Park in May, but would have to return and vote on any changes the House makes.

Murphy said the House legislation is an improvement over that passed by the Senate, but said he did not know if the Senate or Gov. Don Carcieri would support the House's changes.

Murphy, Costantino, Wolman and others met throughout Tuesday.

Newport Grand Chief Executive Diane Hurley also took part in the meetings for about an hour. She said the group had general discussions about the Lincoln Park sale, and says she plans to testify Wednesday before the finance committee.

While the Senate signed off on the bill in May, the legislation had stalled in the House Finance Committee.

Murphy said that was because the House needed time to conduct "due diligence," but Carcieri and others suggested what was really holding Murphy up were concerns the parity clause would doom Harrah's Entertainment's plans for a casino in West Warwick -- Murphy's district.

While BLB has agreed to pay the state some 60 cents of every dollar it takes in on slot machines, Harrah's has said it is unwilling to pay nearly that much, and the parity clause might end its casino plans. The casino would be built in partnership with the Narragansett Indians.