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New Jersey Urged to OK Park Place Bid for Claridge Hotel21 December 2000ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey -- As reported by the Associated Press: "One of the founding fathers of casino gambling in New Jersey urged regulators Wednesday to endorse Park Place Entertainment Corp.'s controversial plan to buy the bankrupt Claridge Casino Hotel, saying that to do otherwise would stymie further casino development here. "Steven Perskie, who helped sell voters on Atlantic City casinos in 1976, told the state Casino Control Commission there is no compelling reason Las Vegas-based Park Place should be denied the opportunity to buy the struggling off-Boardwalk casino. "...Park Place's top lawyer, meanwhile, told regulators that vigorous competition for customers would continue even if Park Place -- which owns three casinos already -- is allowed to buy the 70-year-old Claridge. "...The remarks came during the final day of a six-day hearing aimed at determining whether the proposed purchase would violate the Casino Control Act's subjective rule banning any one casino operator from having `undue economic concentration' over the market. "The Claridge, which filed for Chapter 11 last year, is now the subject of competing reorganization plans submitted by Park Place Entertainment and billionaire financier Carl Icahn, who owns the Sands Hotel & Casino next door. "...But the casino commission is being asked to determine whether Park Place ownership of the Claridge would give the world's largest casino company too much power in the 12-casino Atlantic City market..." |