Station Square Gaming L.P. v. Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board

927 A.2d 232, 592 Pa. 664, 2007 Pa. LEXIS 1445
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 18, 2007
Docket28 & 29 MM 2007
StatusPublished
Cited by42 cases

This text of 927 A.2d 232 (Station Square Gaming L.P. v. Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Station Square Gaming L.P. v. Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, 927 A.2d 232, 592 Pa. 664, 2007 Pa. LEXIS 1445 (Pa. 2007).

Opinions

OPINION

Chief Justice CAPPY.

Petitioners in these matters challenge the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s (“Board”) grant of a slot machine license to PITG Gaming, LLC (“PITG”). For the following reasons, we affirm.

The genesis of these matters lies in the Legislature’s July of 2004 enactment of the Pennsylvania Race Horse Development and Gaming Act (“Act”). The Act established the Board, granting it general jurisdiction over all gaming and related activities including the licensing of gaming facilities.

Under the Act, the Legislature provided for legalized slot machine gaming at a limited number of licensed facilities throughout the Commonwealth. Three categories of slot machine gaming facilities are authorized under the Act. 4 Pa.C.S. § 1801. A Category 1 license authorizes the placement and operation of slot machines at existing horse racing tracks; a Category 2 license authorizes the placement and operation of slot machines in stand-alone facilities; and a Category 3 license authorizes the placement and operation of slot machines in resort hotels. 4 Pa.C.S. §§ 1302-1305. Within Category 2 licenses, the Board is authorized to award two facilities in a city of the first class, one facility in a city of the second class, and the remaining two facilities in a revenue- or tourism-enhanced location. 4 Pa.C.S. § 1304(a)(1). The sub[671]*671category with which these matters are concerned is the one that provides that the Board may grant a single license for a slot machine facility to be located in a city of the second class namely, in Pittsburgh (“Pittsburgh slot machine license”). With regard to the Pittsburgh slot machine license, the Board received applications from IOC Pittsburgh, Inc. (“IOC”), Station Square Gaming LP (“Station Square”), and PITG.1 After receiving the applications, the Board engaged in extensive review and investigation of the applicants through its Bureau of Licensing, Investigation and Enforcement (“Bureau”).2 The Bureau, along with the Financial Suitability Task Force, investigated the financial suitability of the three applicants. The Board also conducted various hearings at which, inter alia, input was received from the public and financial data were examined.

On December 20, 2006, the Board met in open session and voted upon all pending applications. The Board voted unanimously to award the Pittsburgh slot machine license to PITG.

On February 1, 2007, the Board issued an Order and Adjudication granting the Pittsburgh slot machine license to PITG. In its Adjudication, the Board emphasized that it had “been presented with three very competent proposals, all of which are eligible and suitable for licensure under the terms of the Act.” Adjudication at 7. Yet, as there was only one Pittsburgh slot machine license to award, the Board necessarily had to deny two of the applications. Id. The Board emphasized that IOC’s and Station Square’s applications were denied “not because the unsuccessful applicants were found unsuitable, but because the Board had the difficult task of [672]*672choosing among three suitable candidates and proposals.... ” Id.

The Board detailed its reasons for selecting PITG for the Pittsburgh slot machine license. The Board determined, inter alia, that PITG was financially suitable for licensure. It also found that PITG’s proposed facility was the most aesthetically pleasing; its ability to deal with traffic concerns was superior; and the facility had great potential for stimulating economic rebirth of the North Shore area where the facility was to be located. The Board also found Don Barden (“Barden”), the owner of PITG, himself to be a huge factor: Barden had shown an impressive level of personal commitment to the project and Pittsburgh in general; the Board also emphasized that Barden would bring “integration of diverse representation in the gaming industry in Pittsburgh----” Adjudication at 55.

IOC and Station Square filed petitions for review with this court. PITG filed a notice of intervention in both matters per Pa.R.A.P. 1531(a).1 *3

Our appellate review of these matters is carefully defined by the Act. The Legislature provided that this court “shall be vested with exclusive appellate jurisdiction to consider appeals of any final order, determination or decision of the board involving the approval, issuance, denial or conditioning of a slot machine license.... ” 4 Pa.C.S. § 1204. We are directed to affirm orders of the Board unless we find that the Board “committed an error of law or that the order, determination or decision of the board was arbitrary and there was a capricious disregard of the evidence.” Id. With questions of law, our review is de novo and the scope of our review is [673]*673plenary. Commonwealth v. Bortz, 589 Pa. 431, 909 A.2d 1221, 1223 (2006).

With regard to the directive that we are to uphold orders of the Board unless such orders are arbitrary or the result of a capricious disregard of the evidence, our case law provides guidance as to the parameters of our appellate review. We have defined a capricious disregard of the evidence to exist “when there is a willful and deliberate disregard of competent testimony and relevant evidence which one of ordinary intelligence could not possibly have avoided in reaching a result.” Arena v. Packaging Systems Corp., 510 Pa. 34, 507 A.2d 18, 20 (1986); see also Leon E. Wintermyer, Inc. v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Marlowe), 571 Pa. 189, 812 A.2d 478 (2002). Furthermore, under the capricious disregard standard, an agency’s determination is given great deference, and relief will rarely be warranted. Wintermyer, 812 A.2d at 484.4 Under this standard, an appellate tribunal is not to substitute its judgment for that of the lower tribunal and the standard “is not to be applied in such a manner as would intrude upon the agency’s fact-finding role and discretionary decision-making authority.” Id. at 487-88.

The primary argument of both Station Square and IOC is that the Board incorrectly concluded that PITG had demonstrated by clear and convincing evidence that it was financially suitable for licensure under the Act.5

[674]*674This issue references the requirements set forth by § 1313 of the Act.6 In brief, that section requires that an applicant for [675]*675a slot machine license must show by clear and convincing evidence “the financial stability, integrity and responsibility of the applicant” and related entities and that the “applicant has sufficient business ability and experience to create and maintain a successful, efficient operation.” 4 Pa.C.S. §§ 1313(a) and (d). That section also requires that in assessing the financial viability of an applicant’s proposed facility, the Board must determine whether “the applicant is likely to maintain a financially successful, viable and efficient business operation and will likely be able to maintain a steady level of growth of revenue to the Commonwealth.... ” 4 Pa.C.S. 1313(e). The [676]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
927 A.2d 232, 592 Pa. 664, 2007 Pa. LEXIS 1445, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/station-square-gaming-lp-v-pennsylvania-gaming-control-board-pa-2007.