State Sen. Vince Fumo said that he had offered operators of the proposed Foxwoods and SugarHouse casinos $50 million and $20 million, respectively, last year to abandon their waterfront sites.

Fumo spoke of his efforts to relocate the casinos yesterday in a wide-ranging interview in which he addressed his fears and hopes about his forthcoming corruption trial, doubts about the Convention Center expansion, and national threats to civil liberties.

Fumo said that the cash he offered to the casinos – which would have helped to offset relocation costs if they had moved – would have come from state gaming revenues, but the casinos refused the offer.  read more »

The owner of a Harrisburg-based Internet broadcast news site testified Tuesday before a judge examining whether the secrecy of a grand jury investigation was violated.

James Roxbury, who operates Roxbury News, appeared before Dauphin County Judge Todd Hoover for about 20 minutes, but would not comment afterward.

Roxbury was the first journalist to testify out of 15 who have been summoned to appear at the closed hearing to determine whether a special prosecutor should be appointed to investigate alleged leaks in the grand jury probe of casino owner Louis DeNaples.

Slot machine gambling appears to be hurting lottery ticket sales the most in areas near casinos, although gambling alone cannot be blamed for a slowdown in Pennsylvania Lottery sales statewide, according to a legislative report.

The report, scheduled for release today by the state Legislative Budget and Finance Committee, compared county-by-county sales of lottery tickets in 2006 and 2007, and found a bigger overall drop in counties that hosted a slots casino.  read more »

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board expressed ‘‘indignation’‘ Wednesday over stories in The Morning Call about the board’s handling of a background investigation into Mount Airy Casino Resort owner Louis DeNaples.

‘‘The articles are based upon misinformed assertions attributed to unnamed sources who clearly misapprehend the board’s functions and the law applicable to the board’s mission,’‘ the gaming board wrote to key state lawmakers.

‘‘It is this very type of reporting based on anonymous sources which has perpetuated misinformation of improprieties and which now appears to be forming the basis for some of the current legislative debate.’‘

Six state lawmakers called Tuesday for the state attorney general to investigate whether state gaming regulators broke the law when they, according to sources, ordered their investigators to change a background report on Mount Airy Casino Resort owner Louis DeNaples.

The lawmakers are asking whether the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is allowed to directly influence and oversee the work of its Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement. The state’s slot machine law, the lawmakers said, makes the bureau independent of the board.

Gaming board spokesman Doug Harbach said the agency is ‘‘confident that it has complied with all legal requirements applicable to the licensing process of all slot machine applicants.’‘  read more »

Billboards for the SugarHouse casino on Delaware Avenue herald a future with slot machines for 22 empty riverfront acres.

But it’s a fascination with the past that is drawing new attention – and controversy – to the project.

It’s a past that stretches back to 1,500 B.C., when native people assembled by the Delaware River to craft tools from stones.

And it’s a past that includes a small British fort from 1777, one of 10 built by occupying troops to keep out Gen. George Washington’s soldiers.  read more »

Republican legislators are introducing proposals in the state House and Senate that would overhaul the way the state’s casino owners are investigated and how casino licenses are awarded.

One element would designate the state attorney general’s office, instead of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s investigative division, to handle background investigations of prospective casino owners, employees and vendors before they can get a license.

Some aspects of the legislation have been pressed before, without success, by legislators who opposed the 2004 law that legalized slot-machine gambling.

Lawmakers preparing to launch a review of how the state awards its lucrative casino licenses may have to deal with the question of whether to explore the conflicting testimony they heard in recent weeks from gambling regulators, who licensed DeNaples, and state police, who charged him.

Attorneys for DeNaples, 67, who opened Mount Airy Casino Resort in October, maintain that the Scranton-area businessman is innocent and are contesting the four perjury charges.  read more »