Gambling Hall

The Board of City Trusts has widened its search for a suitor to build a gambling hall on prime Center City property owned by the Girard Estate. Only two politically connected developers with ties to the board submitted proposals last year when the board solicited plans from about 10 firms in May 2003. The board had imposed a July 2003 deadline for submissions. But a third company submitted a proposal three weeks ago to develop the site at 12th and Market Streets across from the Pennsylvania Convention Center, according to Sen. Vincent J. Fumo (D., Phila.

Driven out at riflepoint more than a century ago, they're now getting a red-carpet welcome back. A tribe of the Delaware Indians, force-marched westward around the time of the Civil War, has been invited back to Wildwood - to bring casino gambling to a Jersey Shore spot other than Atlantic City. City officials here say they've wrapped up about a year's worth of negotiations with the Delawares, who are 1,500 miles away in the southwestern corner of Oklahoma, to bring casino gambling to Cape May County.

Atlantic City last month suffered its largest monthly decline in gaming revenue since the seaside resort opened its first casino in 1978. Figures released yesterday by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission confirmed what had been felt by many casino operators there: Last month was horrible. Slots competition from Pennsylvania casinos, a split Labor Day weekend, and a tropical storm combined to whack the resort's casinos, resulting in a 15.1 percent decrease in total revenue, compared with September last year.

HANOVER, Md. - Maryland Live, the largest and most successful of the state's three operating casinos, introduced dealer-staffed table games late last week, doubling its workforce seemingly overnight - and, some say, amping up its threat to gambling halls in Atlantic City and Delaware, plus at least one casino along I-95 in Pennsylvania. Craps player Nick Giron, 28, of Prince George County, said he'd be cutting back on his trips to Atlantic City. It's a 30-minute drive to Maryland Live vs. three hours to the Shore, where he typically plays craps at the Borgata.

A Florida company that operates casinos in Mississippi said yesterday that it had agreed to develop the site of the former Riverfront Restaurant & Dinner Theatre on the Delaware River waterfront in Philadelphia. Casino America Inc. said it would form a joint venture with the theater's owner, Daniel M. Tabas, and with a Louisiana casino developer to build a casino on the 14-acre site - if gambling is legalized in Pennsylvania. Terms were not disclosed. Three other reported deals for riverboat-casino sites have been in South Philadelphia.

Developer Donald J. Trump and Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. will maintain control of the three Atlantic City casinos that bear his famous name. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Judith Wizmur ruled Monday in favor of a proposal by the bondholders and the company to bring it out of bankruptcy a third time. The decision represented a major defeat for billionaire financier Carl Icahn, who had waged a bid to take over the company since December. "We were hoping for this," an elated Trump said by phone Monday from his New York office, minutes after the 121-page ruling came down at 5:45 p.m. He took the call with daughter Ivanka Trump at his side.

Finally, the big Miss B has set the date. The $1.1 billion Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa - the one that invites you to "ditch your inhibitions" and "give boredom the slip" - will open to the public on July 3, in time for the big holiday weekend. The Borgata will be the first new casino in Atlantic City in 13 years. The upscale resort boasts of its good taste, sophistication and sensuality, aimed at baby boomers and others who have rejected Atlantic City in the past. Its opening date had become the big unanswered question around town, with officials declining until yesterday to be any more specific than sometime between July 1 and July 11. They still hedged yesterday, saying the opening was "pending the receipt of final regulatory approvals.

Not content with being the top-grossing casino in the state, Parx wants to grow again - just three months after opening a bigger $250 million gambling hall in Bensalem. The casino is embarking on a multiphase expansion over the next three to five years at a cost of $100 million - with the potential to add $200 million more - depending on the size of a hotel, spa, and showroom, according to Bob Green, chairman of Greenwood Racing Inc., which owns Parx. He said the expansions could create an additional 1,000 jobs over that time.

Traffic's constant vibration, especially after sports events, has left her home near the stadium complex and those of her neighbors "crumbling," Judy Cerrone says, tearing up their foundations. "We absolutely don't want a casino south of Oregon Avenue. We are prisoners of our homes," said Cerrone, president of Stadium Community Council, a civic group. She was among about 60 people who spoke Wednesday to the state Gaming Control Board about the possible effects of a second Philadelphia gambling hall.

The company that owns Revel, the lavish yet financially troubled Atlantic City casino that opened just 10 months ago, announced Tuesday night that it is filing for bankruptcy protection. In a statement just before 8 p.m., Revel AC Inc. said it had "reached an agreement with a majority of its lenders to significantly reduce its debt through . . . a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. " The move is intended to provide Revel with about $250 million in debtor-in-possession financing, with about $45 million in new money commitments, according to the statement, and about $205 million in pre-petition debt.