BY PATRICK KERKSTRA OF THE INQUIRER Somehow, it just didn’t come up. Amid all the lawyers, the petitions, the protests and the huge stakes, little was said about Section 14-1624 of the Philadelphia Code – which bans certain adult-oriented businesses from part of the Delaware riverfront. DiCicco said he’s alerting his lawyers to the relevant section of the city code and intends to add this issue to the lawsuit Council has filed against the state Gaming Control Board over its casino site selections. Still, it was unclear yesterday just how large a challenge Section 14-1624 — approved by City Council […]

DAD, GET ME OUT OF THIS! FROM THE INQUIRER: A ballot question seeking to exclude casinos from residential areas cannot be stopped by court action, City Solicitor Romulo L. Diaz Jr. has advised Mayor Street. Diaz said that if the ballot initiative approved unanimously by Council last week is passed by city voters on May 15, it will eventually be voided by the courts because state law takes precedence over city codes. Nevertheless, Diaz wrote Friday in a memo to Street, he cannot prevent the proposed amendment to the city charter from being voted on in the May primary election. […]

ASSOCIATED PRESS — PHILADELPHIA City Council voted unanimously Thursday to place a referendum on the primary ballot that, if passed, could stop construction of two casinos along Philadelphia’s waterfront. Members voted 17-0 in favor of asking voters in the May 15 primary whether the city charter should be amended to ban the building of casinos within 1,500 feet of homes, churches and schools. The decision brought simultaneous cheers and boos from hundreds of casino opponents and supporters who were part of a standing-room-only crowd in council chambers. SugarHouse and Foxwoods plan to build slots casinos along the riverfront. SugarHouse plans […]

City Council could soon vote on putting a question to voters this May, on the future of the city?s slots parlors. A super majority of 12 votes would be needed by City Council for this ballot question to go to voters in May. The question involves changes to city zoning that effectively would bar casinos from just about every part of town. The mayor opposes this, leaving Councilman Frank DiCicco perplexed: ?I would just wonder if the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania decided to put a nuclear power plant down at Delaware and Reed, would the city?s position be the same? I […]

But the quick, conclusive ruling by a Court of Common Pleas judge was a victory for the two casinos that have been awarded licenses for giant slots parlors along the Delaware River. The judge upheld a claim that the petition organizers, who submitted paperwork with 27,000 signatures, actually had collected fewer than 7,000 valid signatures of registered voters. “We’re pleased that the judge saw that the claim that there were 27,000 signatures was false,” said Richard Sprague, the Philadelphia lawyer and SugarHouse casino investor who handled the case. “It really was a bad play by those so desperate to knock […]

BY JEFF SHIELDS INQUIRER STAFF WRITER — The fight over development of two casinos on the Philadelphia waterfront turned nasty yesterday, as SugarHouse Casino claimed “widespread and pervasive fraud” in the petition drive to ban slots parlors from Delaware Avenue.The allegations are contained in a complaint that casino lawyers said will be filed today in court. A copy was provided in advance to The Inquirer. SugarHouse lawyers, led by two attorneys who are investors in the project, Richard Sprague and William Lamb, accuse activists of forging signatures and circulating petitions with two different versions of a proposed ballot question. John […]

Donald Trump lost his bid to run a slots casino in Philadelphia because he flunked the first lesson of real estate – location. Trump picked the wrong one. He had wanted to build his $350 million TrumpStreet Casino complex in a struggling industrial neighborhood on the edge of North Philadelphia. But the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board concluded that was the wrong place for a casino, and said yesterday that was largely why it rejected Trump’s proposal in favor of two riverfront parcels. […] Trump was unhappy. “That was the governor’s decision, and he has to live with it,” Trump said […]

After days of unwelcome national media attention, PhiladelphiaPark Casino Saturday night paid the disputed $102,000 that a Feasterville slots player said he had coming to him. But Stephen Wilkinson, 56, a retired carpenter, said the jackpot was in his hand for “about two minutes.” His wife of 25 years, Nancy, grabbed the check for safekeeping. “We haven’t decided what we’re going to do with it,” he said. Wilkinson, a regular but small-time bettor, said that his son Sean, 23, had asked for help in paying off his 2002 Dodge Ram truck but that the family would take its time in […]

A retired carpenter in his mid-50s was playing a slot machine at PhiladelphiaPark Casino on Monday when a gambler next to him leaned over and said, “Hey! It looks like you’ve won a bonus.” Stephen Wilkinson, of Feasterville, could hardly believe his eyes. “My name came across the screen – ‘Congratulations. You are the power player jackpot winner. You’ve won $102,000.’ “ His joy was short-lived, however. Casino officials soon walked over and told him it was a mistake – a system malfunction. They said he had no money coming. “They offered me two comps for the buffet,” Wilkinson said […]

ATLANTIC CITY ? A Philadelphia man was arrested after allegedly stabbing a woman multiple times late Friday night outside the Tropicana Casino and Resort. A Tropicana doorman and a valet driver witnessed Christopher Barnes, 54, stabbing an unidentified female in the property’s South Tower drive-through shortly after 11 p.m, police said. The two men managed to pull Barnes off the victim and hand him off to casino security officers, who detained Barnes until police officers William Pollack and Keith Bennett arrived to take him into custody, police said. Police found a hunting-style knife on the scene, which they believe was […]

To the south, Paul Boni, a board member of the Society Hill Civic Association, said his group will “do all we can to prevent this from happening.”In the case of Foxwoods, they may have leverage. Foxwoods has proposed to mitigate the traffic problems in South Philadelphia with a southbound off-ramp from Interstate 95, an idea that city analysts say has not been approved or funded, and that could cost the public $100 million. But in a Dec. 14 letter to the gaming board, Boni and Donald Ackerman of the Queen Village Neighbors Association noted that their groups are parties to […]