|
Wynn pulls Philadelphia casino project
By HOWARD STUTZ
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Apr. 08, 2010
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Casino developer Steve Wynn spent more than an hour
Monday meeting with the mayor of Philadelphia,
touting his plan for what he had said would be the
"cutest place we ever built" on a waterfront gaming
site along the Delaware River.
Wynn, chairman of Wynn Resorts Ltd., even delivered
a package of color renderings of the proposed $600
million casino-only development to state gaming
regulators, three weeks ahead of schedule.
On Thursday, in a two-paragraph statement after the
stock markets closed for trading, Wynn said he was
canceling plans for the project.
"We are fascinated by the legalization of full
gaming in Pennsylvania and stimulated by the
opportunity that it presents for Wynn Resorts, but
this particular project did not, in the end, present
an opportunity that was appropriate for our
company," Wynn said in the statement.
The state and city would take more than half of the
new casino's slot revenues and 16 percent of its
table game revenues.
Wynn declined comment beyond the statement.
The news surprised his partners in the project. Wynn
became the managing general partner in the casino
site that was originally called Foxwoods Casino
Philadelphia because the partnership included the
Mashantucket Pequot Tribal National, which operates
the Foxwoods Resort in Connecticut.
"I'm in a state of shock," Stephen Cozen, a lawyer
for the original Foxwoods investors, told the
Philadelphia Inquirer on Thursday.
Cozen said he heard the news at the same time as the
public.
"We're trying to find out what the reasons are for
this and determine what, if anything, can be done
about it," he said. "That's the only comment I can
make."
The project had been delayed for more than a year
because Foxwoods was unable to complete the
financing.
Most analysts said Wynn, whose company operates Wynn
Las Vegas, Encore and the Wynn Macau, would be able
to finance the casino easily.
However, at a public hearing last month in front of
state regulators, Wynn was met with skepticism by
anti-gaming advocates, despite having gained support
from local building and trade unions.
The Inquirer's editorial board also came out against
the development, saying the planned 3,000 slot
machines and table games would be "preying mostly on
the poor and elderly who can least afford it."
During a quarterly earnings conference call in
February, Wynn said the Philadelphia casino wouldn't
be "slots in a box. It will be a Wynn signature
presentation with all the bells and whistles."
Wynn told analysts he had been spending "8 or 9
hours a day" working on the project.
Contact reporter Howard Stutz at
hstutz@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3871.The
Associated Press contributed to this report. |
