Pittsburgh Casino On The Rocks?

[Atlanta Dan]

Can someone living in the Burgh please educate me as to whether awarding the Pittsburgh "casino" (aka slots palace) license to Don Barden appears to be as FUBAR as this indicates:

Construction work is to be shut down for about two weeks at the Pittsburgh Majestic Star casino site, officials announced today, because owner Don Barden has yet to complete financing to cover costs owed to contractors.

Mr. Barden's spokesman, Bob Oltmanns, said this afternoon that a private investment firm headed by Chicago billionaire Neil Bluhm has committed to provide $120 million in equity for the project. Mr. Barden has been looking for a total of $780 million, however, to cover the casino project's full costs.

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/08182/893769-100.stm

For those in the know, did Barden get the Pittsburgh slots license as some misguided nod to "diversity" or was it just good old fashioned corruption?

[HometownGal]

Originally Posted by Atlanta Dan

Can someone living in the Burgh please educate me as to whether awarding the Pittsburgh "casino" (aka slots palace) license to Don Barden appears to be as FUBAR as this indicates:

Construction work is to be shut down for about two weeks at the Pittsburgh Majestic Star casino site, officials announced today, because owner Don Barden has yet to complete financing to cover costs owed to contractors.

Mr. Barden's spokesman, Bob Oltmanns, said this afternoon that a private investment firm headed by Chicago billionaire Neil Bluhm has committed to provide $120 million in equity for the project. Mr. Barden has been looking for a total of $780 million, however, to cover the casino project's full costs.

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/08182/893769-100.stm

For those in the know, did Barden get the Pittsburgh slots license as some misguided nod to "diversity" or was it just good old fashioned corruption?

You hit the nail on the head there, Dan. Good old fashioned corruption about sums it up. This entire ordeal has been fubared from the start. Rendell the Hut got his $300,000 kickback, the Bettis family got their homey, but it looks eerily likely that Barden is a total fraud and at some point, whether or not Bluhm seals this commitment of $120 mill, this entire clusterfook is going to eventually blow sky high.

In the words of Mario Lemeiux - who turns down free money (Isle of Capri) to build buildings for public use? Why the bloody blue hell the Isle of Capri was turned down is still beyond me.