House leader says Markell put kibosh on new casinos bill

The sponsor of legislation that would bring two new casinos to Delaware said he will pull the bill from consideration until the 2011 legislative session at the urging of Gov. Jack Markell.

House Majority Leader Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth, introduced House Bill 194 last June and claims he had the 21 votes needed to pass the measure when the General Assembly reconvened in January.

But after a convoluted amendment process, Schwartzkopf said he lost his slim majority and the support of the governor.

In its original form, House Bill 194 carved out a special casino license for the would-be developers of the Del Pointe casino, racetrack and resort project planned in Millsboro.

The scope of the bill was broadened after an independent consultant hired by the state said Delaware’s gambling market could support two new casinos, one in Sussex County and another in northern New Castle County.

To garner critical votes, Schwartzkopf amended HB 194 to provide for location of a new casino in the Wilmington city limits, subject to the approval of a committee made up mostly of appointees chosen by the mayor and city council president.

A similar committee process would be employed in choosing a Sussex site.

By creating a Wilmington site, Schwartzkopf secured the support of city representatives, but he lost the votes of certain county representatives and Markell.

“I don’t care whether it goes in Wilmington or New Castle County,” he said. “By moving it to the city of Wilmington, I picked up five votes, but I lost two in the county, and that’s where I think I lost the governor as well.”

Markell feels all new casino project proposals should get fair consideration.

“It’s very important that the process, should there be additional venues, be thorough, be open and be competitive. I want to make sure the language does all of that,” he said.

While the governor would not say specifically he is opposed to Wilmington-only language in the bill, Schwartzkopf said that was the main sticking point in his discussions with Markell.

Schwartzkopf said when he drafted the Wilmington caveat, he didn’t know it would cause Markellto go cold on the bill.

“I talked to people in his administration, but I did not talk directly to the governor — mistake No. 1,” he said. “I didn’t know it was the deal breaker in the governor’s mind.”

At this point, the majority leader and the governor are committed to reworking the legislation during the General Assembly’s July-January recess.

For Schwartzkopf, that means going with the bill Markell wants.

“I need his support, and to get that I pretty much have to have the language in that he will come out publicly and support — and that is New Castle County and a different committee,” he said. “I think we can do that; the question is, where will my Wilmington votes be?”

Schwartzkopf is optimistic, even though this November’s mid-term election, which includes all 41 state House seats, could turn the whole process on its head.

“We have three people that are retiring; all three of them are no votes. I can’t lose any ground on them; I could pick up no votes or three votes or somewhere in between,” he said. “It could be a 30 vote [on HB 194] or it could be a deal breaker.”

Ed Sutor, CEO of Dover Downs Hotel & Casino, said the news the bill is on hold is good for him and his colleagues at the state’s other gambling venues, but they’re going to remain vigilant.

“Obviously, we’re happy. It’s something that we were hoping would have been off the table much sooner; we also expect it won’t be going away,” Sutor said. “We hope the administration and the legislators pay attention to the polls that have been done. They show nearly 60% of people in this state do not want additional casinos. We’re going to be emphasizing that going forward.”

On the other side of the industry is Del Pointe principal investor Preston Schell, who said this is just a setback, and he’ll take his casino whenever he can get it.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “I’ll wait as long as it takes.”

Email Doug Denison at doug.denison@doverpost.com.