Greenberger said that with the expansion of the Convention Center, the city will need a second large-scale hotel complex. "Could the presence of a casino of some scale enable that deal to happen?" Greenberger asked. "I'm using that as an example of taking a casino and leveraging it."
SugarHouse opened the city's first casino last September on Delaware Avenue. Investors in the Foxwoods Casino group were supposed to build a second casino on Columbus Boulevard in South Philadelphia, but they lost their license in December after repeated delays.
In the wake of the license revocation, State Rep. Curt Schroder, a Republican from Chester County who chairs the House Oversight Committee, has sponsored a bill to take Philadelphia's second license and auction it off to the highest bidder anywhere in the state.
That could bring the license back to Philadelphia - or not, Schroder explained at the hearing's start.
The investors behind the Foxwoods Casino project are currently challenging in court the state's revocation of the license.
If the action stands, Schroder proposes putting the license out to bid within 30 days.
Greenberger testified that he thinks the license will stay in Philadelphia for the simple reason that more people live in Southeastern Pennsylvania than anywhere else, making a casino here more feasible than in a remote part of the state.
In 2006, when five groups were bidding on two slots licenses for Philadelphia, the Pinnacle investor group had backed the development of a casino on 27 waterfront acres in Kensington at the former Conrail rail yard.
"Most people thought that was a pretty good site," Greenberger said after the hearing.
