Editorial: Foxwoods backers playing games in Philly

Monday, December 7, 2009  

"Pennsylvania officials continue to stumble along the road to full-blown casino gambling, while still saddling Philadelphia with a planned slots parlor that's wrong for its site along the Delaware River. Now the backers of the long-delayed waterfront facility are trying to use the state's delay in approving table games as their latest way to buy more time.

Foxwoods Casino officials say they need a three-month extension on the just-passed Dec. 1 deadline to produce a concrete design. Why? They need to figure in the still-uncertain impact of table games on their construction and financial plans. It's a lame excuse. Casinos already operating have contingency plans for blackjack and the like.

The question is whether the state Gaming Control Board will cave on its earlier pledge to get tough. In August, lawyers for the board talked about moving to yank Foxwoods' license if it blew the deadline. Well?

Foxwoods has fallen far behind the city's other planned slots parlor - the SugarHouse Casino on the northern expanse of waterfront near Girard Avenue. Foxwoods also would bring a wretched big-box design to traffic-clogged Columbus Boulevard.

Mayor Nutter has called it "wrong for Philadelphia," and four state lawmakers on Wednesday called for pulling the license. They're right. But when it comes to the unrelenting push to expand gambling in Pennsylvania, there's always a second and third bite of the apple, with casino operators given the benefit of the doubt."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Foxwoods' games (The Philadelphia Inquirer 12/6)