Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010 | 10 a.m.
HARRISBURG — State gambling regulators pulled the plug today on the long-stalled Foxwoods casino project planned for Philadelphia's Delaware River waterfront.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board voted 6-1 to deny the latest extension request filed by developers trying to compete the project that first won the $50 million casino license four years ago.
The vote followed weeks of work by the project's backers and their new partner, casino giant Caesars Entertainment, to assemble new financing, ownership and design plans.
The group sought to push its deadline for opening the casino from May 2012 to December 2012. However, it could not show that it has committed financing for the proposed $275 million project, which would operate under Caesars' Horseshoe brand. And the group could not show that it had the concrete plans to develop the project past its initial stage.
The gaming board has never before revoked a casino license. A lawyer for the investor group, Fred Jacoby, previously warned of a costly and time- consuming lawsuit if the license were revoked.
The Foxwoods Philadelphia group — a partnership including the Connecticut Indian tribe that owns Foxwoods Casino and the charities of three wealthy businessmen, Lewis Katz, Ron Rubin, and Ed Snider — won a license four years ago.
However, the project stalled in the face of local opposition and the tribe's financial problems, even as 10 other casinos opened around Pennsylvania since late 2006.
The license, by law, is restricted to Philadelphia.
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