ERIE Another license OK'd for racetrack builder
Momentum has built in Harrisburg to legalize slot machines at racetracks in Pennsylvania.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- Once again, Ted Arneault has a license to build a racetrack near Erie, but not the reassurance he's looking for to actually break ground.
On Thursday, for the second time in nine months, the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission granted Arneault -- the president, chairman and chief executive of MTR Gaming Group Inc. -- a license to race at the yet-to-be built Presque Isle Downs.
Wary
But after a successful appeal to a state court prompted the revocation of the first license, Arneault is wary of the same scenario developing again before he begins construction on the $56 million, 6,500-seat track.
"We have to make sure that we've addressed all outstanding claims," Arneault said after a commission meeting at the Department of Agriculture. "Otherwise, we'd be building on shifting sands."
In the past year, racing licenses have become much more valuable, as momentum has built in Harrisburg to legalize slot machines at the racetracks. Applications for a racing license have poured in at the prospect of slot machines enriching the track owners while the gambling revenue would allow the state to afford property-tax relief.
Before the commission voted 3-0 to award the license, a lawyer for a Pittsburgh group with a pending application opposed the move, saying his group wanted a chance to argue the merits of MTR Gaming's application. Commission attorneys, however, said the first license was revoked only because another group, MEC Pennsylvania Racing Inc., was improperly denied a hearing.
Later, attorney David B. Fawcett, representing Pittsburgh Palisades Park LLC, said his group would consider an appeal to the Commonwealth Court. Arneault's attorney, Robert L. Ruben, said he believed Fawcett was trying to build a "foundation" for an appeal during his argument to the commission.
The argument became heated at times, as commission counsel Gregory Santoro took exception to Fawcett's assertions that the panel's decision was a "rubber stamp" and that the body's two newest members were unfamiliar with MTR Gaming's application.
Revocation recap
MEC Pennsylvania filed its appeal in December after the horse racing commission denied it a hearing on MTR Gaming's application. Penn National Gaming also filed an appeal. Commonwealth Court in May ruled in favor of MEC Pennsylvania, ordering the license back to the horse racing commission for a hearing. But MEC Pennsylvania dropped its request for a hearing and both groups settled the appeals with MTR Gaming -- paving the way for the commission's decision Thursday.