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Foxwoods casino plan not dead, investors have filed appeal

The investors behind the Foxwoods casino project in South Philly say they have filed an appeal to the state Supreme Court of a Nov. 10 Commonwealth Court ruling, which rejected their request to order the state Gaming Control Board to hold a hearing to reconsider the revocation of their casino license. PhillyClout earlier this afternoon, based on available court records, reported that the investors had missed a 30-day deadline to file the appeal.

The investors behind the Foxwoods casino project in South Philly say they have filed an appeal to the state Supreme Court of a Nov. 10 Commonwealth Court ruling, which rejected their request to order the state Gaming Control Board to hold a hearing to reconsider the revocation of their casino license.  PhillyClout earlier this afternoon, based on available court records, reported that the investors had missed a 30-day deadline to file the appeal.

Manny Stamatakis, one of the investors, said a petition for the Supreme Court to review the Commonwealth Court ruling was filed before 5 p.m. Monday.  The 30-day deadline fell on Saturday, giving the investors until the first business day of this week to file, he explained.  The filing, made in the Supreme Court's offices in Philadelphia, has not appeared on the official docket as of this afternoon.

The Gaming Control Board, thinking no appeal had been filed, said earlier today that it expected to begin accepting applications "relatively soon" for the Philadelphia-based casino license.  The 2004 state law that legalized casino gambling in Pennsylvania set aside two casino licenses for Philadelphia. The other license went to SugarHouse, which opened on the Delaware riverfront in September 2010.

The Foxwoods investors, known as Philadelphia Entertainment Development Partners, had argued in Commonwealth Court that the board acted too swiftly on two main concerns: Whether they still had the financial ability to build the casino and whether they had violated a series of deadlines set by the board to get the long-delayed project moving.

The project was first stalled by opposition from community groups. The investors also complained that city officials dragged out decisions on permits and other requirements. The first casino partner, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation of Connecticut ran into financial troubles. Then casino developer Steve Wynn announced last year that he would take over the project but dropped out two months later. Finally, the investors were trying to seal a deal with Caesars Entertainment to build the casino when the board revoked the license.