Negotiations were still ongoing and it is not known if the talks stalled or if Steve Wynn simply decided that he no longer had any interest in the Foxwoods project. That decision comes at a time when Pennsylvania is preparing for casino table games expansion.
Table games were approved by legislators earlier this year and many casino facilities in the state are expecting to have the games operation for players by summer. Philadelphia has proven to be a difficult city to conduct business with for both casino facility projects. The SugarHouse casino project has been postponed several times for different reasons.
Some of the issues are a resistance from area residents who do not want the casino facility to be constructed in their area. That has caused Philadelphia to move slowly in approving the necessary construction permits. Billionaire Neil Bluhm has been the main financer behind the SugarHouse project and the developers are hoping that a temporary casino will be open to the public by the end of 2010. Meanwhile, the Foxwoods casino project has been temporarily put on hold after Steve Wynn backed out of the agreement.
The Pennsylvania Bill 711 is the catalyst that will allow poker, roulette, blackjack, roulette and craps games. The bill does a lot more than just legalizing table games because it is filled with special earmarks. For example, there is an earmark that allows patrons in Philadelphia casinos to smoke despite the fact that there is a city law that bans smoking in public places. Additionally, the bill also increases the amount of slot machines that a resort casino can have from 500 to 600.
Had this bill not passed it likely would have lead to the elimination of 1,000 state jobs and cuts to many state-funded programs. Currently, there is a $250 million gap in the Pennsylvania budget and this bill is expected to fill that void. The passage of Bill 711 came as good news to many and could mean particularly good news for the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh. Rivers Casino was predicted to be one of the State’s most lucrative, yet this past September it posted the third-lowest revenues of Pennsylvania’s 9 casinos. The hope is that table games will bring the Rivers Casino revenues closer to the highest in the state, rather than the lowest.
Back in December 2009, online casino revenues in Pennsylvania had bigger slot machine revenue than in Atlantic City for the first time in history. Pennsylvania casinos are planning to take advantage of that momentum once the casino table games are operational.
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