DN Editorial: Five-card dud?

WITH Atlantic City casinos falling like dominoes, it would be understandable if the Pennsylvania Gaming Control board had cold feet about awarding the final casino license to open in Philadelphia.

But if that's the case, they should say so.

It's been four years since the state revoked Foxwoods' license, two years since the decision to have the second casino license remain in Philadelphia and more than a year since the board heard the final presentation from six potential licensees.

Since then, silence.

It was clear during last year's presentations in Philadelphia that the board was conscious of the struggles that had hit the casino industry, particularly Atlantic City, when gaming commissioner Gregory Fajt called the gaming market "tenuous." That was even before the closing of Revel and Showboat, and the soon-to-close Trump Plaza, put a huge crater in southern New Jersey.

Such caution is justified. Frankly, many believe that that kind of caution would have been justified back in 2004, when the Legislature legalized gaming in the state and the gaming board subsequently began opening casinos around the state. But Pennsylvania was just a hair's breadth ahead of many states who were looking around for "creative" ways to raise money without raising taxes, and so, since the first opening in 2006, Pennsylvania's industry has grown steadily, to become the second-largest grossing casino state after Nevada. In 2012 alone, it took in $1.5 billion just in casino taxes.

But with other nearby states, like New York and Maryland, jumping on the casino bandwagon - 39 states in all now have gaming - that gravy train is destined to run off the rails eventually. Atlantic City is so far the biggest casualty - and whether or not there's a lesson there for other states like ours depends on your view.

Most would say that A.C.'s and Pennsylvania's gaming are apples to oranges (or cherries). Atlantic City was built solely as a casino destination, at a time when Las Vegas was the only other place to gamble. It had the market to itself for a long time, until the success of Pennsylvania's encroached. Pennsylvania carefully zoned its casino locations around the state, and few are in places that depend solely on casinos for economic health. Philadelphia's has the advantage of being absorbed into a larger, more complex economy. In other words, if Sugarhouse struggled, the city itself would hardly be at risk.

Still, there are plenty who see Atlantic City as the cautionary tale for other states and their casinos. In November, Massachusetts voters will vote on whether to repeal the state's recently-enacted gaming law.

Meanwhile, Philadelphia's six potential licenses have shrunk to four who are now waiting for word from the gaming board as to who will get to open the last new casino. That means that four projects and locations are in limbo until that decision gets made.

While we are rarely sympathetic to casino operators, it hardly seems fair to let this drag on without the board acknowledging that it may be second-guessing the wisdom of granting a second license, if that's indeed the case.

And while the city as a whole is hardly dependent on a second casino, a second casino will have impact - both positive and negative. Bad enough the city's residents don't have a say in that decision. We shouldn't be left in the dark about when it will actually get made.