5 groups win slots licenses; 6 for racetracks

A Detroit-based casino developer won the single license in Pittsburgh.
HARRISBURG (AP) -- A Connecticut Indian tribe, a Chicago billionaire and a Detroit-based casino developer can now do something that Donald Trump can't: bring slot-machine casinos to Pennsylvania.
Five groups won slots licenses Wednesday from Pennsylvania gambling regulators, who cleared the way for Philadelphia to become the nation's largest city with a casino but rejected Trump's bid for a slot-machine parlor and plans for another near historic Gettysburg.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, which met in a packed auditorium across the street from the Capitol, awarded the licenses after choosing from 13 competing groups of casino giants, politically connected investors, celebrities and nationally known developers.
Winners include groups led by billionaire developer Neil G. Bluhm and the Connecticut-based Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, each of which plans to build on Philadelphia's riverfront. Detroit-based casino developer Don H. Barden, who won the single license up for grabs in Pittsburgh, wiped away a tear after board members voted, one by one, to approve his project.
"We're thrilled and delighted, we're very excited and we're going to build a great project," Bluhm said. "We want to do something really special here."
Total of 11
Northeastern Pennsylvania businessman Louis A. DeNaples won a license for the now-shuttered Mount Airy Lodge in the Pocono Mountains that he plans to reopen next year. And a group led by Las Vegas-based casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp. won a license to build at the rusting flagship factory of the defunct Bethlehem Steel Corp.
All told, the board awarded 11 permanent slots licenses Wednesday, each allowing as many as 5,000 machines. The other six licenses were earmarked for the state's horse-racing tracks, which already received conditional licenses earlier this year. So far, two racetracks -- Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs and Philadelphia Park -- already have opened slots parlors, while racetracks in Chester and near Erie are expected to open slots parlors in the next two months.
The huge expansion into slot machines could make Pennsylvania one of the highest-grossing commercial gambling states in the nation, if the state's projections for 3 billion in slots revenue comes true.
Gov. Ed Rendell rejuvenated a 25-year drive to legalize casino-style gambling in Pennsylvania by promising that slots revenue would help reduce property taxes and revive the state's declining horse-racing industry. The law passed in 2004 authorized up to 61,000 slot machines at 14 sites.
The gaming board would not discuss the reasons behind its choices, saying those would be made clear in a document to be issued in the coming days. The board's chairman, Tad Decker, said the members needed several hours Tuesday night to reach unanimous decisions after months of analyzing the projects.
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