HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The man who wants to bail Don Barden's PITG Gaming out of the financially troubled slots casino on Pittsburgh's North Shore said the state needs to approve his proposal by Wednesday, or the project could bite the dust.
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"If this deal is not put together, what will happen is this project will go into bankruptcy," Neil Bluhm said Thursday. "If it goes into bankruptcy, I believe there will be a long delay with litigation. The contractors will go off the job. They are owed a significant amount of money."

Bluhm, a Chicago-based real estate billionaire who's also part of a planned casino in Philadelphia, made his comments about the $780 million Pittsburgh casino during a four-hour Senate committee hearing in Harrisburg.

He has agreed to inject new money into the Pittsburgh casino. As part of the deal, he wants the state Gaming Control Board to take the license that it originally awarded to Barden and transfer it to a Bluhm-led group.

"I don't know that I'd refer to it as our being held hostage," Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said Thursday in Pittsburgh. "But you know, we do need to consider what that deadline means, and if nothing happens before then, what does that mean for future construction and ownership of the site?"

Daniel Keating, chairman of Keating Building Corp., which is the general contractor on the Pittsburgh casino, testified that dozens of subcontractors have the contractual right to quit next week, and he's concerned that it would kill the project if they do.

At that point, the property could be sold to pay off debt and a wave of legal action could smother any efforts to revive the casino project, Bluhm said. Construction has already stopped because Barden couldn't line up enough financing to continue work.

Committee chairwoman Sen. Jane Earll said there's no way the gaming board can finish reviewing Bluhm's proposed bailout before Wednesday.

In Pittsburgh, state Sen. Jim Ferlo said he doesn't like the idea of a deadline, "especially given the atmosphere in which a gun is being put to everyone's head, do this, or God forbid we're going to lose all this revenue and income."

Bluhm was questioned by senators about why the state gaming board should allow the license transfer despite him not going through a competitive bidding process to get it, like Barden, Isle of Capri and Forest City did in 2006.

Bluhm and his business partners at Walton Street Capital and High Pitt Gaming have signed a deal with Barden to hold 75 percent of the Pittsburgh casino under a new name of Pittsburgh Gaming Holdings, with a new CEO, and with Barden only a 25 percent partner.

Ferlo, D-Highland Park, and state Sen. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, have asked the gaming board to reopen the competition for Pittsburgh's casino license, alleging that political pressure is being applied to push Bluhm's approval through.

Original plans called for the casino to be up and running -- and starting to generate tax revenue for Pittsburgh -- by June 2009.

City budgetary projections have been made according to that timeline. The city is also counting on $7.5 million a year in casino money that Barden pledged to help fund a new arena, which has been promised to the Pittsburgh Penguins to keep them from relocating to another city.

Bluhm is pledging to honor Barden's commitments. He said he doesn't think new bidders will do the same.

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