PITTSBURGH (AP) - The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board may have to intervene if the owners of Pittsburgh’s new casino can’t settle a dispute over when they must begin annual $7.5 million payments toward a new arena for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority says the first of 30 annual payments is due on Sept. 15, as part of a government financing package crafted to help pay for the $321 million arena now under construction.
But a spokesman for Holdings Acquisition Co, which took control of the casino project last summer, says they were told the first payment would not be due until at least Sept. 15, 2010, and possibly as late as June 2012.
The casino doesn’t open until Aug. 9. The state may step in if both sides can’t settle the issue.