Pennsylvania Court Upholds Revocation of Foxwoods License

In November, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania upheld by a 6-1 margin the revocation of the gaming license for Foxwoods Casino Philadelphia.  Philadelphia Entertainment and Development Partners v. Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, No. 49 C.D. 2011.  The state gaming control board had revoked the license when financing woes prevented Foxwoods from meeting deadlines for submitting design and construction plans.  Those failures, regulators concluded, showed that the licensee was no longer “financially suitable.”

The court rejected arguments that state law did not impose a financial suitability requirement or, in the alternative, that any such requirements were unconstitutionally vague.  Foxwoods’ problem, the majority opinion held, “was not due to its lack of clarity regarding the Board’s requirements, but to its ability to timely deliver.”  The lone dissenter argued that the gaming control board should have granted Foxwoods an evidentiary hearing in its attempt to save its license.