Four days after declaring that he would build a South Philadelphia casino that would be “Wynn top to bottom,” it appears there will be no Wynn at all.
Gaming mogul Steve Wynn, of Wynn Resorts, shocked local investors and politicians Thursday by announcing that the Las Vegas-based company was pulling out of the stalled Foxwoods project roughly two months after stepping in to revive it.
A statement from the company said, “We are fascinated by the legalization of full gaming in Pennsylvania and stimulated by the opportunity that it presents for Wynn Resorts, but this particular project did not, in the end, present an opportunity that was appropriate for our company.”
Mayor Michael Nutter, who met with Wynn Monday, called the move “one of the most stunning series of events” he’s ever seen, adding that the city was supportive of the plans.
“All I can tell you is what his general counsel said, which is their decision had nothing to do with the city of Philadelphia or any of the various components of the city, and that it had to do with the transaction,” he said.
Wynn was to invest $250 million to take over the casino after the Mashantucket tribe ran into financial and regulatory troubles while trying to build it on Columbus Boulevard.
The change could spell the end for the faltering project, which must find a new lead investor with the money and time to get slots up and running for an increasingly impatient state Gaming Control Board.
