Lisa Zhu | Betting on a bad idea

The most recent turn of events in the never-ending Philadelphia casino saga - a new location for the proposed Foxwoods casino - has the city going all in on the developer's demands. At a Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board meeting last week, Foxwoods revealed that they were now planning to move into the former Strawbridge & Clothier building at 8th & Market streets. This latest site - three blocks east of the original, announced in November - represents little improvement over the old one. If anything, it might be worse for the neighborhood and Philadelphia.

For those of you unfamiliar with local landmarks, the old Strawbridge's department store (the company was acquired by Macy's four years ago) dates back to the 1920s and features an ornate Art Deco exterior. Thankfully, the building's status as a historic landmark should prevent the casino developers from perpetrating any egregious aesthetic offenses on the outside facades - "[Foxwoods] will be very limited in the changes they can make to the exterior. For instance, they won't be able to add a lot of cheesy neon," said Philadelphia Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron. "Federal and state offices are in the upper floors, and there's no way they'll allow them that kind of vulgarity."

But while the building's exterior may not change much, it certainly begs the question: Why would anyone think it's a good public relations maneuver for the City to allow a sleazy slots parlor to move into a historic landmark?

Perhaps it's because Foxwoods has delusions of grandeur - "We have this idea of casinos being glamorous, and that's just not true; you'll barely find a glamorous one in Las Vegas," Saffron said. "We have this idea of Monte Carlo and these old-style European casinos. By Foxwoods going into that building, there's a chance of projecting that image."

Alas, slapping on some chevron and sunburst Art Deco motifs does not transform a slots parlor into Casino Royale (not to mention the fact that Daniel Craig is sadly absent from Philadelphia . but I digress). In the end, every single decision maker in the casino development process is painfully aware that one of the primary purposes of the project is to generate revenue for the state, not to turn Philadelphia into the Monaco of American postindustrial secondary cities.

"The convenient thing is that the state gets to collect all the revenue while the local municipalities have to deal with the costs," said Helen Gym, anti-casino activist and board member of Philadelphia's Asian Americans United. In reality, "It could [cost] upwards of $200 million a year [for Philadelphia] because of criminal justice costs and other social issues."

Of course, both Foxwoods and the Nutter administration maintain that the local benefits will outweigh the costs. According to a press release from the casino developer, Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust officials "are hopeful [that the gaming facility] will be a catalyst for redevelopment [sic] of Market Street as a shopping, dining, nightlife and hospitality destination."

That may or may not be true - it's difficult to say, really, since neither the City nor Foxwoods has bothered to do an economic impact analysis of the neighborhood since the location was selected in November.

Consider these bits of wisdom: (1) Saffron claims that "slots parlors are often considered to be low end and attract a very different crowd [than table games]," and (2) according to Gym, many national studies have shown that "the majority of casino revenue comes from people who are addicted to gambling."

So let's get this straight - the City is counting on the patrons of low-end slot parlors (many of whom are evidently gambling addicts) to single-handedly stimulate the Market East Corridor? Apparently, the Nutter administration is willing to make that bet - and it's playing the game with a $1.5-billion deficit on the line. But if the Mayor's plan doesn't work, it's not only municipal dollars that will be wasted. Ultimately, the neighborhoods around the casino will suffer the worst of the losses through increased crime, alcoholism and gambling addiction while the house always wins.

Lisa Zhu is a College and Wharton senior from Cherry Hill, N.J. Zhu-ology appears on Thursdays. Her email address is zhu@dailypennsylvanian.com

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