However, the county found it was in a battle with a developer who wanted to utilize the Philadelphia Navy Yard and build a racetrack and casino there.

They agreed that 4 percent of gross gaming revenue – with 2 percent going to the county and 2 percent to the city – would be paid in addition to the state gaming tax. “No one wanted the harness licenses, because harness tracks were not successful, but the idea of having a harness track, Lashinger was confident that coming down the line would be gaming legislation and the first licenses for gaming casinos would be at racetracks.”ĭelaware County signed an agreement to sell the trio the contract to the land with the promise that the Chester Downs developers would remediate the significant environmental problems from the shipyard. “There was a limited number of licenses in the state,” said Delaware County Councilman John McBlain. “This has been wildly successful.”īehind the push for legalized gambling in the state was a push for the advancement of racing licenses, and with those a joining of harness racing and casinos, which are now classified as the top tier Category 1 casino, or racino, in Pennsylvania. “My whole goal was tax relief for seniors, because seniors live on fixed incomes, and as property taxes kept rising they had no ability to cope with them,” Rendell told the Associated Press in 2014.

Ed Rendell promoted casino gambling as a way to stave off rising school property taxes. Horse racing for years stood as the only form of gambling legalized in the state, save for the games of chance with the Pennsylvania State Lottery, but casinos were much maligned until then-Gov. The climate of gambling in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania had a much different atmosphere in the early 2000s. Horse racing was dwindling in popularity and the state struggled to even find companies who wanted to snatch up two of six available harness racing licenses.Īnd then a grandiose plan to develop the waterfront of Chester came to the forefront. Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino and Racetrack called a it “proud moment” and a reason to celebrate 10 years in the market and its “ongoing partnership with the community.”Īnd yet at one point in Pennsylvania the view of gambling was not so positive.

CHESTER > Today marks the 10th anniversary of harness racing in Chester.

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