Commonwealth Court docket Permits Pennsylvania Sportsbook Inside Philly Restaurant

Chickie’s and Pete’s is a domestically well-known restaurant that has grown nationally in recent times. The corporate is now ready so as to add off-track betting and a sportsbook in its South Philadelphia location due to the Commonwealth Court docket overruling the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Changes.

South Philadelphia Race & Sportsbook, affiliated with Parx On line casino, which additionally operates one in every of 13 PA on-line sportsbooks, is now capable of transfer operations into Chickie’s and Pete’s.

Chickie’s and Pete’s permitted to supply PA sportsbook at restaurant

South Philadelphia is turning into a haven for playing. Along with Dwell! On line casino Philadelphia, which is positioned steps away from the Sports activities Advanced, company now have the choice to put sports activities wagers at Chickie’s and Pete’s.

The eating institution is positioned in a South Philadelphia procuring heart close to a residential space, lower than a mile from the sports activities complicated. Again in 2021, Philadelphia’s Zoning Board of Changes voted towards the relocation of the South Philadelphia Race & Sportsbook, 4-1.

The Commonwealth Court docket reversed that call in an announcement earlier this week, in accordance with Law360. It dominated that Philadelphia’s Zoning Board of Changes discounted South Philadelphia Race & Sportsbook’s testimony. Decide Christine Fizzano Cannon wrote within the court docket doc:

“Applicant put forth proof that, on its face, glad the burden set forth in [the] Zoning Code … that applicant should show no detrimental affect to the neighborhood past that which usually is perhaps anticipated from the proposed use. Right here, with out making categorical credibility determinations as to the witnesses, the board disregarded applicant’s materials, competent proof … as an alternative merely characterizing applicant’s witnesses’ testimony as ‘unsupported opinions.’”

In different phrases, the Zoning Board solely listened to the Packer Park Civic Affiliation, a neighborhood group that vehemently opposed sportsbook exercise inside Chickie’s and Pete’s.

Neighborhood affiliation to maintain combating Pennsylvania sportsbook ruling

South Philadelphia Race & Sportsbook is presently positioned within the neighborhood of the Sports activities Advanced already, and goes to maneuver lower than a mile away into Chickie’s and Pete’s.

Whereas the timeline of the transfer stays unclear, Packer Park Civic Affiliation had at all times been towards a sportsbook inside a residential South Philly restaurant. When the Zoning Board voted in 2021, lawyer Paul Boni, who represented the affiliation, stated:

“A goal of a zoning code is to guard the neighborhood. Folks can debate whether or not playing parlors are already positioned too conveniently close to residential communities. This proposal was to put in a sportsbook right into a neighborhood procuring heart, into an institution that caters to youngsters. Authorities is starting to see that there ought to be some restrict.”

It’ll be attention-grabbing to see what the following steps are for the Packer Park Civic Affiliation and its plan to problem the Commonwealth Court docket’s ruling.

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