Foxwoods partners seeking new investors With Steve Wynn out of the picture, a group led by a local entrepreneur is said to be among the possibilities.

With Las Vegas casino developer Steve Wynn out of the game, the local partners in the Foxwoods Casino project are talking to more than one investor group about taking his place, according to sources familiar with the venture.

One of the groups is said to involve several investors from Philadelphia and is being assembled by Gregory Weinberg, a local entrepreneur who was a real estate developer in Atlantic City during the 1990s.

Who might replace Wynn "is premature to discuss," Stephen A. Cozen, a Foxwoods lawyer, wrote in an e-mail reply to The Inquirer. "We are working on the options with several folks, but we have no intention of discussing it publicly."

For the South Philadelphia casino, time is running out.

In 11 days, Foxwoods' lawyers must appear before the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to present a plan to salvage the waterfront project on Columbus Boulevard between Tasker and Reed Streets.

The seven-member panel could give the Foxwoods team more time to work out a deal, or revoke the $50 million license, opening the possibility of a new round of bidding for a different site.

The Foxwoods project won one of the city's two slots licenses in 2006. The Mashantucket Pequot tribe was supposed to raise money to build the casino and run it, but the tribe has had to take a backseat because of financial problems back home in Connecticut.

Wynn, the founder and chairman of Wynn Resorts, emerged in March to revive the stalled project. But he abruptly pulled out of the deal April 8. According to people familiar with the situation, the Las Vegas operator concluded that the Philadelphia project was too complicated to pursue.

"The hope is they can move this forward without the project and license withering on the vine," said Alex Picou, a gaming expert in New York for the investment bank KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc.

The gaming board expects to discuss Foxwoods at its next public hearing April 29 in Harrisburg, board spokesman Doug Harbach said, "but I'm not sure what shape the discussion is going to take."

The Foxwoods project includes the charitable trusts of two prominent friends of Gov. Rendell's: Center City developer Ron Rubin and New Jersey lawyer Lewis Katz. A third Rendell friend - Comcast-Spectacor chairman Ed Snider - has pledged his profits to charities.

With Wynn, the local investors and the tribe would have given up control in return for Wynn's developing, financing, and operating a casino.