Casino License

I mentioned yesterday that state senators Ferlo and Orie are calling to have Don Barden's casino license revoked. There are more details on their plan here and a slamming of the gambling board here. While the gaming board's selection of Barden was at best flawed and at worst corrupt, they are now stuck between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, PITG has defaulted on a $200 million loan. On the other hand awarding it to someone else is going to be difficult because of the credit crunch affecting national markets. If the license goes to someone else, they will have to be much better capitalized because access to money is going to be much more difficult than it was when Barden was granted the license. In other words, the state gaming board passed up an opportunity to award the license to someone competent and the city of Pittsburgh is now stuck with a concrete skeleton that has been at a standstill for the past two weeks.