John Donnelly was there when the gaming industry took its first tentative steps in Atlantic City the 1970s. As corporate counsel for Resorts International, he helped to establish the parameters and procedures of the New Jersey regulatory system and demonstrate how to effectively represent clients by stressing integrity before the Casino Control Commission.

Through the years, Donnelly’s expertise has been used in a variety of jurisdictions. But nowhere has any gaming lawyer had the success that the partner with the Atlantic City law firm of Levine Staller Sklar Chan Brown & Donnelly enjoyed last month.

Donnelly directed the legal efforts in two successful bids for Pennsylvania slot licenses in a hotly contested competition. Donnelly was chosen by the two groups in separate and independent searches, and won the position for two very different bids. No other gaming attorney represented more than one client in the process.

The Mount Airy Lodge, owned by businessman Louis DeNaples, was an applicant for one of the two “at-large” licenses. It was competing against the Pocono Manor, which proposed a massive $1.4 billion project. The Mount Airy bid prevailed even though its value was just $450 million.

“I think the board put their faith in a real project that they knew would be completed,” says Donnelly. “There were too many contingencies connected with the other bid.”

In Philadelphia, Donnelly worked for the SugarHouse group, which includes Chicago billionaire Neil Bluhm, former Philadelphia district attorney Richard Sprague and casino builder Dan Keating.

“There were several great proposals in Philadelphia,” says Donnelly. “It was very difficult to make a choice. We concentrated on doing and presenting things that would allow us to break out of the pack, and I guess that worked.”

Donnelly says the bottom line was the quality of the bids.

“I’d like to think I made the difference,” he laughs, “but I believe each of the winning bids was superior to the competitors.”

Obviously Donnelly believes the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board made the right choices, but overall he was impressed with the procedures.

“Frankly, I was surprised they were so organized and knowledgeable about each project,” he says. “For a first-time gaming board to be so sophisticated in how they designed and evaluated the competition, was quite unusual.”

By Casino Connection Staff