In this economy borrowing is getting expensive and harder to do. Thus Pinnacle dropped its plans to operate a casino in Kansas.
It didn’t take long for one of the worst Wall Street meltdowns in history to hit the casino industry.
Already stalled in its plan for a $2 billion mega-casino in Atlantic City, Las Vegas-based Pinnacle Entertainment said Tuesday it was ending its bid to run a Kansas casino, citing “the current turmoil in the financial markets.”
Pinnacle also has delayed the start of its beach house-themed casino on the Atlantic City Boardwalk where the former Sands Casino Hotel once stood. A spokeswoman would not say whether abandoning the Kansas effort could affect the timetable for the Atlantic City project.
Several city officials have expressed annoyance recently with Pinnacle’s pace in Atlantic City, including the fact that nearly a year after the Sands was demolished, the site remains undeveloped.
“It’s not a good sign if they’re backing out of things elsewhere, but hopefully the two are not related and they’ll take that $623 million and put it here,” said Atlantic City Councilman Marty Small.
“I’m nervous,” he said. “We had hoped that the project would be under way by now. We put thousands of people out of jobs and threatened property owners with eminent domain. I would hope they have their ducks in a row.”
Pinnacle said it still plans to go ahead with its Atlantic City casino but can’t say exactly when because of the worsening credit crunch, which makes borrowing expensive.
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