Drum roll please!
After leaving everyone in suspense for months, Pennsylvania gaming officials will announce Tuesday who gets to build and operate Philadelphia’s second casino. The winner will land the last remaining casino license in Pennsylvania, now second only to Las Vegas as the largest gambling market in the nation.
Pennsylvania is also a significant source of patrons for Maryland casinos, so try to stay with me, DMV folks.
A local company is also a contender for the Philly license — Baltimore-based Cordish Cos., which owns and operates Maryland’s largest casino, Maryland Live. Cordish and a partner, operating together as Stadium Casino, LLC, are one of the four finalists.
Cordish wants to open a casino in the stadium district in South Philly. It has run into some unexpected opposition of late, from South Philly residents, who flooded a community meeting last week.
Some of the more than 1,000 in attendance criticized its proximity to an elementary school, according a WPVI-TV News Channel 6 account. Some expressed distaste for “pimping ourselves out.” Others were just adamant that whatever happens in New Jersey should stay in New Jersey.
“We do not want to be the next Atlantic City,” Barbara Capozzi said.
Gentrification may also be feeding anti-casino sentiment. Channel 6 quoted another resident who said, “We are tired of being dumped on, this is not the dumps anymore.”
It was the kind of debate Atlantic City officials probably wish they were having, instead of arguing about whether to cut police services, or talking about how the down-and-out destination needs the municipal equivalent of “a root canal.” The owner of the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort filed papers last week to close the casino next month.
