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Pennsylvania Casino Hopefuls Play Dirty

PENNSYLVANIA – As reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "Why did Carmen Shick, who hopes to build a harness racing track and slots casino in Lawrence County, sue convicted mob boss Lenine "Lenny" Strollo over a land-deal-gone-bad in Puerto Rico?

"Did Centaur Inc., which wants to build a similar harness track/casino in Beaver County, improperly influence Indiana state legislators when it essentially put two of them on its payroll at a time when the legislature was considering the legalization of slot gambling?

"Shick and Centaur are competing against each other for the single remaining harness track/slots casino license in Pennsylvania, and the charges are flying. The Harness Racing Commission is expected to name a winner tomorrow, after months of delays. Under the 2004 law that legalized slots gambling in Pennsylvania, the company that wins the last remaining harness racing license in the commonwealth is a shoo-in to win a lucrative slots license, too. This all-or-nothing proposition has led to some nasty accusations by the two companies that are competing for the right to build a harness track in Western Pennsylvania.

"Centaur, based in Indianapolis, wants to build a new track along Route 51 in Beaver County called Valley View Downs. Mr. Shick wants to build one in Lawrence County called Bedford Downs. Both say their projects have sufficient financial support, and both intimate that the other developer has a shady background that ought to give the Harness Racing Commission second thoughts.

"…The winner of the last remaining harness racing license will become one of only four harness tracks in the state, joining The Meadows in Washington County, Pocono Downs near Wilkes-Barre and a new track being built along the Delaware River, south of Philadelphia. All of the tracks will have the opportunity to build slot machine casinos."

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