Parx Casino

ATLANTIC CITY - The plight of the lavishly expensive but bankruptcy-bound Revel means more than just the future of one casino. It also means the potential loss of a key ingredient in the desperate city's blueprint for recovery. With Revel's financial challenges, questions abound regarding Atlantic City's ability to alter its image as more than just a place to gamble. The architects of a reimagined Atlantic City - one that would counter gambling competition from Pennsylvania and elsewhere - saw Revel as a more diversified destination.

A man ran out of Parx Casino in Bucks County with about $55,000 in chips Tuesday afternoon, but gave it all back hours later, a Parx spokeswoman said. About 3:30, the man was playing a table game when he grabbed the chips and fled the Bensalem casino, said Carrie Nork Minelli. The casino immediately alerted state police and Bensalem police. Four hours later, he voluntarily returned to Parx, gave back the chips, and was placed under arrest. - Robert Moran

Parx Casino will give $250,000 each year to sponsor the Philly Cycling Classic in 2013 and 2014, U.S. Rep. Bob Brady said Thursday. Parx will be the name sponsor for the June 2 race, which just weeks ago was thought dead for this year after previous organizers were unable to find new sponsors. Parx is joined by New Penn Financial, which will contribute $100,000 for 2013. Also, Philadelphia Federal Credit Union will contribute $50,000 this year, and Sunoco $25,000. This year's race is expected to be shorter than the traditional one but will retain its key feature, the climb up the Manayunk Wall.

PARX CASINO and New Penn Financial have signed on as the two major sponsors for Philadelphia's new professional-cycling race, together pledging $700,000 for this year's race and the next. U.S. Rep. Bob Brady announced Thursday that the Parx Casino Philly Cycling Classic had secured enough funds to fill the gap left after the Philadelphia International Cycling Championship was canceled due to financial troubles. Parx has promised $500,000, he said, while Penn, a national mortgage-lending firm, signed on for an additional $200,000.

JAPANESE eating sensation Takeru Kobayashi will not defend his crown at Wing Bowl 21, but he will take part in the 4th annual Police and Firefighters Wing Bowl. The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 (1336 Spring Garden) hosts its contest Jan. 25 and Kobayashi, who ate a record-shattering 337 wings at last year's WIP event, will partner with Chief Inspector Dennis Wilson to face off against members of the Philadelphia Fire Department in a five-minute contest. Doors open at 3:30 p.m. and the eating contest begins at 7:30.

Police are searching for an 82-year-old man who went missing early Saturday morning from the Parx Casino in Bensalem. Dominick Paparella, from West Windsor Township in N.J.'s Mercer County, suffers from dementia and was last seen at the casino before 5 a.m. Saturday, after being driven there by his wife. police said. Paparella's wife was inside the casino when he apparently took the vehicle, a 2001 silver Infiniti I30 with license plate KUK66X. Paparella was last seen driving the car, though he has not driven in over a year.

SUDDENLY, Packer Avenue, that industrial stretch of wide road near the sports stadiums in South Philly, is jumping with casino proposals. Six applications were submitted Thursday to the state Gaming Control Board for an available casino license in Philadelphia. Three of them want to set up shop on Packer Avenue. And one bidder has two potential sites there. The application for PHL Local Gaming LLC was not revealed until Friday morning, when the Gaming Control Board issued a list of bidders.

Liang Pan worked six shifts a week as a cook at a Parx Casino restaurant to support his wife, Ming, and their 9-month-old daughter, Heidi. Pan, 35, needed to work hard. His paycheck also helped support a large extended family in Philadelphia and other relatives back home in China. Ming was pregnant again, four months along. Monday night, Pan, as was his routine, offered a ride home to a coworker at the Sangkee Noodle House, Zhuoru Chan, 58, a kitchen assistant. The men lived near each other in Oxford Circle.