Gaming board to get update on Foxwoods project

With the fate of the Foxwoods Casino license in jeopardy, the state's top gaming enforcement lawyer will present an update on the project to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board at its meeting Thursday in Harrisburg.

Cyrus Pitre, chief enforcement counsel, will testify before the seven-man board at a regular session. Doug Harbach, a spokesman for the board, said the status report could be followed by a recommendation for board action.

"Anything, at this point, is possible," Harbach said.

He said representatives for Foxwoods had been communicating with board lawyers, but "I have no idea where those talks have gone."

Stephen A. Cozen, a lawyer for the partnership behind the Foxwoods Casino in South Philadelphia, had no comment about the status report.

Cozen said the Foxwoods team had had multiple discussions with regulatory lawyers on a variety of topics. "As you know, those communications are confidential," Cozen said.

Las Vegas gaming tycoon Steve Wynn had been recruited to take over the struggling project. But a little more than a month later, he abruptly dropped out.

Asked about replacing Wynn, Cozen said, "We will be exercising all our options and will be communicating with appropriate people at the gaming board on a regular basis."

According to people familiar with the situation, Foxwoods has held discussions with more than one investor group about taking over the project on Columbus Boulevard.

Cozen said he had "no comment with respect to what you may have heard."

The Foxwoods group includes the Mashantucket Pequot Indian tribe of Connecticut, as well as the charitable interests of a trio of prominent local businessmen: developer Ron Rubin, New Jersey lawyer Lewis Katz, and Comcast-Spectacor chairman Ed Snider.

In 2006, the partners won an intensive competition for one of two gaming licenses for Philadelphia. The SugarHouse Casino on Delaware Avenue in Fishtown and Northern Liberties is set to open in September.

But the Foxwoods project has made several missteps.

State Sen. Larry Farnese, a Democrat from South Philadelphia whose district includes both casino projects, said Foxwoods would present a plan at the board meeting to prevent regulators from revoking its license.

At a meeting Jan. 27, the board fined the Foxwoods partners for repeated delays and warned that they could lose their license.

But then Wynn stepped forward and even presented to regulators weeks ahead of a deadline new plans for a design and financial strategy. But three days after sharing his vision for the waterfront with Mayor Nutter on April 5, Wynn dropped out, offering little explanation.

"We have a licensee that in 2010 still doesn't have its act together," Farnese said. "I don't understand why we want to deal with this company."