Live! Casino Pittsburgh Parking Garage is Site of Armed Confrontation

Posted on: January 4, 2023, 01:02h. 

Last updated on: January 4, 2023, 01:25h.

Ed Silverstein @casinoorgedsilv Read More
Expertise: Legal, Tribal Gaming.

An intoxicated man was charged with several counts after he allegedly pointed a firearm at someone in the parking garage of Live! Casino Pittsburgh. The incident took place early on New Year’s Day on the Greensburg, Pa. gaming property.

Live! Casino Pittsburgh
Live! Casino Pittsburgh, pictured above. The casino was the site of an armed confrontation on New Year’s Day. (Image: Visit Pittsburgh)

The 55-year-old, unnamed Marianna, Pa. suspect got into a fight with the second man. As the confrontation escalated, the suspect pulled out the gun.

It appears the suspect was under the influence of alcohol.

Police responded and investigated the situation. Later, the suspect was charged with assault, making terroristic threats, harassment, disorderly conduct, and public drunkenness, KDKA, a local TV station, reported.

Police didn’t disclose what statements were made which led to the terroristic threats charge. It appears no shots were fired. There were no serious injuries, based on initial news reports.

Local police were notified about the confrontation between the two men at about 1:30 a.m. on Sunday.

Two-Year Anniversary

Live! Casino Pittsburgh recently celebrated its two-year operating anniversary as a mini-casino. The casino is a satellite venue of the company’s larger Live! Casino Hotel Philadelphia in that city’s Stadium District.

The Pittsburgh casino has some 750 slot machines, 40 table games, and a new poker room with seven tables. Live! Casino Pittsburgh has added a 7,000-square-foot events center. It is called The Venue at Live! Casino.

The Venue holds up to 350 guests for seated receptions. For concerts and entertainment, the space can hold more than 700 people.

Some two years ago, Live! Casino Pittsburgh opened in a former Bon-Ton department store.

In December 2021, Cordish announced it was selling the physical assets of Live! Casino Pittsburgh to Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (GLPI), the real estate investment trust of Caesars Entertainment.

The deal lets Cordish rent Live! Pittsburgh’s operations from GLPI for a minimum of the next 39 years.

Dispute Over State College Site

The Cordish Companies is a Baltimore-based gaming and hospitality conglomerate. Beyond operating the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia gaming sites, the company wanted to open another Pennsylvania venue in State College.

The desired site was the former Macy’s store at the Nittany Mall. The retail shopping complex is less than two miles from the Penn State campus, where more than 40K undergraduate students live and study.

Bally’s Pennsylvania, LLC, a fully owned subsidiary of Rhode Island-based Bally’s Corporation, also wants to place a casino in the former Macy’s department store at the Nittany Mall. It would be called Bally’s Pennsylvania.

But the rival Cordish Companies argues that Bally’s should not be allowed to operate a casino in State College. Cordish claims that Ira Lubert, who was the high bidder during the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s casino auction round in September 2020, orchestrated an illicit bid by partnering with Bally’s before submitting his winning $10 million offer.

Only land-based casinos and key individual investors in the state’s brick-and-mortar casinos qualified to bid during the 2020 auction, the company contended. Lubert maintains a 3% ownership position in Rivers Casino Pittsburgh. Soon after securing College Township for his Category 4 casino development, Lubert announced a partnership with Bally’s to embark on what would be a $123 million development.