Pat Croce joins Trump in proposed Philadelphia casino venture

[Louis Cypher]

By MARC LEVY
Associated Press Writer

December 1, 2005, 1:01 AM EST

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Pat Croce, the former president of the Philadelphia 76ers and now a motivational speaker and author, has joined Donald Trump's casino company in a bid to build a slot-machine parlor in Philadelphia, the company said Wednesday.

Trump's company, Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., has an option to build a gambling hall on a piece of former industrial land in Philadelphia and is one of two parties that has publicly announced its interest in seeking a slots license in the city.

Croce, who had said he was seeking partners in the "sports and entertainment world" to apply for a license, will head a group of investors joining Trump's venture.

Trump Entertainment Resorts' spokeswoman Virginia McDowell said one of the investors is Pete Ciarrocchi, the owner of Chickie's & Pete's, a popular Philadelphia restaurant and bar chain. But, she said, she could not identify the rest of the investor group or reveal their financial stakes in the deal because the details were not ironed out.

"The entire group is still assembling and their financial commitments are still in the process of being finalized," McDowell said.

In a statement, Croce said a slots parlor has the potential to "breathe new life into an entire community."

So far, only Trump's company and Planet Hollywood have publicly stated that they plan to apply for one of the two slots licenses that are set aside for Philadelphia. The deadline to apply for a slots license is Dec. 28.

Last year, Pennsylvania legalized up to 61,000 slot machines at 14 licensed venues, although no licenses will be awarded until next year, at the earliest.

Croce has remained in the public eye since leaving the 76ers. He had stints as a broadcaster, opened a pirate museum in the Florida Keys and, for a time, hosted his own television reality show.

[Total Square]

wonder what croce's fee is [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

[The Actuary]

It is embarassing and they should all be ashamed-
they received exactly two proposals for the entire city of Philadelphia.
governor cited competition from the shore as the reason-what a joke!
one of the worst enviroments for businesses to operate on all earth.
they legalized them a year ago-where the f are they?!?!?!?!?! any normal entity that suddenly found a money tree in its back yard would milk that tree from the moment it sprouted the ground-not the government-
just pissing money away like it is toilet paper.

[tatoe]

Does anyone besides old ladies really enjoy slots? I'm very concerned about PA over-estimating the effect of slots on tax revenues!

I'm all for gambling and entertainment complexes, and anything related, but when it's only slots?????

[MudinyourEye]

Originally posted by: tatoe
Does anyone besides old ladies really enjoy slots? I'm very concerned about PA over-estimating the effect of slots on tax revenues!

I'm all for gambling and entertainment complexes, and anything related, but when it's only slots?????

A lot of this is driven from revenue estimates they take from the slots in Delaware [versus A.C.]. Legalized gambling has been on the Rendell agenda ever since he was mayor of Philly. I always see this type of thing as taking $$ away from another area typically heavily taxed, whether its alcohol, cigarettes or whatever. The net-net to the state is nil; the net-net to the politician's cronies is substantial.

[The Actuary]

There is no way with all the PA tags in the neighboring states lots-also north of here not just DEL and NJ-that it is net-net nil. Casino rev is a considerable amount of both of the state's budgets.