When Mayor Ed Rendell ran the city in the 1990s, he watched in frustration as thousands of city residents and visitors poured down the Atlantic City Highway each week to gamble in a New Jersey casino. 온라인카지노
Now the governor, Mr. Rendell, keeps the gamblers at home by legalizing 14 casinos for Pennsylvania, including two to be built in the “city of brotherhood” where he still lives.
But where exactly are the two gambling houses located? Is it near a huge Pennsylvania Convention Center in a bustling downtown area known as the “central city”? Is it in one of several places along the scenic Delaware River? Or is it in the ugly old industrial park of northern Philadelphia chosen by casino mogul Donald Trump?
Recommendation of answers to these site questions was the work of the Philadelphia Gaming Advisory Task Force, which was named by Mayor John F. Street in January.
The company delivered a 436-page report to Mr. Street on Thursday, recommending nine potential sites for use in two standalone slot stores, each of which is expected to have about 3,000 slot machines.
The final decision on which developers will acquire the two casino licenses is up to the Pennsylvania Gaming Regulatory Commission. However, the Pennsylvania Gaming Regulatory Commission’s on-site recommendations are expected to weigh significantly on the seven-member state agency.
Over the course of nine months, the task force looked at three key issues: where casinos should go, how much could mean in terms of revenue and jobs, and what problems could be expected, such as increased traffic congestion, crime, and gambling addiction.
“The game in Philadelphia could be the best or worst thing that ever happened to us,” Mr. Street said at a news conference Thursday. “It’s a stately old building on Broad and Market streets with a statue of William Penn on top.”
“In some cities, the expected revenue from the game didn’t materialize, and it ended up creating nightmares for them,” Mr. Street said, explaining the reasons for adding to the crime problem and treating more gambling addicts.
“We are also concerned that placing thousands of slot machines improperly could lead to traffic nightmares.”
But the mayor expressed confidence that such a problem would not happen in Philadelphia. He said he hopes the casino, combined with restaurants, universities, museums, art galleries, shops, theaters, nightclubs, and sports stadiums, as well as the Independence Hall and other historic landmarks, will be “part of the solution” to make Philadelphia more attractive to tourists and indigenous people.
The Game Task Force said the city can expect thousands of new permanent jobs as well as temporary construction jobs from the two casinos. In addition, for Philadelphia, up to $30 million will go into city coffers from the 4 percent game “host fees” provided by law for the same entity, the city and county.
Also, the new state Economic Development Fund, which is financed by 5 percent of the game’s total revenue from 14 casinos, is expected to provide hundreds of millions of dollars for the massive expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center, which opened in 1993.
The task force spent months researching where to recommend the two gambling casinos.
It listed three common areas within the city. Five lie along the Delaware River that separates Philadelphia from Camden, New Jersey; two are near the downtown convention center; and two about 10 miles from downtown, one in northern Philadelphia and one on the western edge of the city bordering Montgomery County.