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Last Thursday, Steve Wynn, not yet two months into reviving the Foxwoods casino project, likely consigned it to its coffin. Wynn Resorts, for which the 68-year-old billionaire serves as chairman and chief executive officer, announced it has abandoned plans to bring a casino to Columbus Boulevard by May 2011.
The decision daunts hopes many had hatched for rejuvenating Philadelphia’s economy yet resounds as a victory for local activists.
“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 an April 8 statement.
His words could not have made Lily Cavanagh happier. Wynn’s reversal is “pretty fantastic,” said the organizing director of Casino Free Philadelphia, whose 6,000-strong base protested Wynn’s testimony last month before the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board in Harrisburg.
“We are oversaturated with casinos,” she said, referring to SugarHouse in Fishtown, Harrah’s Chester and Parx Casino in Bensalem.
Foxwoods must now scramble to find help, as an April 29 meeting with the board looms. Richard McGarvey, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, said he could not comment on the likelihood of revocation, but he did say that he is confident that the investors will keep the meeting date.
Wynn, a University of Pennsylvania alumnus, entered the fray on Feb. 23, declaring in a letter to the board that he had joined the partnership. The involvement of an additional investor became necessary when the recession began to dwindle the funds of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, which controls 30 percent of the project.
The mogul, who owns properties in Las Vegas and China, met with the board on March 3 to declare his role in salvaging the project and to convince the board not to revoke its license. According to published reports, under his plan, he would have controlled a 51 percent stake in the casino, with the investors claiming 35 percent and the tribe 14 percent.
The board gave him a March 31 deadline to produce financial documents explaining the funding of the project and an April 26 cutoff for an architectural depiction and a construction timeline. Wynn met both, beating the latter on April 5, the same day he met with Mayor Michael Nutter and other city officials about the project.
Showing his enthusiasm, Wynn said he would have 3,000 slot machines ready, doubling the board’s mandate of 1,500. He vowed to create a casino that would be “Wynn, top to bottom.” Three days later, his plan bottomed out, leaving many perplexed and others enthralled.
According to published reports, speculation on Wynn’s next move dominated the headlines last week. Many feel he may apply for his own license if the board revokes Foxwoods’. Wynn had sought an extension from the board, hoping it would give him until December ’12 to open the casino, instead of until May ’11, but he he had not applied for an extension before his departure.
Last week, published reports noted Wynn made a stop in Atlantic City to visit the 7.8 million square-foot beachfront Revel Casino Resort project, which remains under construction. Like Foxwoods, the company is in need of financial backing to meet its targeted ’11 opening. Wynn Resorts has denied interest in the project.
Wynn’s unexpected move jeopardizes the fate of a project that has had little but opposition since December ’06, when the board granted a slot parlor license to the Foxwoods Casino Group. The group, based in Ledyard, Conn., consists of members of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, which operates two casinos — the Foxwoods Resort Casnio and the MGM Grand at Foxwoods — and a group of investors including Comcast-Spectacor Chairman Ed Snider that own 70 percent of the project.
However, unrelenting foes, including area civic associations and Casino Free Philadephia, have combatted each move.
Their determination prompted intervention in September ’08 from Governor Ed Rendell and Nutter. The politicians suggested a move from Reed Street and Columbus Boulevard to Eighth and Market streets and Foxwoods agreed.
Last August, an equally unrelenting board approved an extension of the group’s license, which had expired in May, but on the condition that it remain in South Philly.
The South Philly site, according to published reports, cost the casino’s partners roughly $65 million in ’05, with an extra $50 million going towards a casino license two years later. Because the investors had missed a December deadline for constuction renderings and a timeline, the board began instituting a $2,000 a day fine Jan. 27, retroactive to the Dec. 1 deadline.
Wynn was to have made all lost funds, which has reached $272,000 as of today, look like pocket change. He had hoped to benefit from Rendell signing of legislation to allow casinos to add table games Jan. 7. In ’04, the Pennsylvania General Assembly had approved the use of only slot machines.
Investors are now in need a miracle, which Cavanagh does not foresee.
“[Wynn’s decision] proves what a beautiful conglomeration of community involvement we have,” she said. “It’s clear that we can fight anything.”
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