“I said two weeks ago that it was 50-50 that we could pull all this together in time,” said Jerome C. Finefrock, one of two local attorneys planning to install as many as 5,000 slot machines in the Bulova Technologies building at North Queen and Orange streets.

Finefrock said his assessment of the pair’s odds of meeting the deadline hasn’t changed with less than a day to go.

“Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong,” he said, adding that last-minute health problems, the Christmas holiday and the difficulty of coordinating work across the country had complicated final arrangements.

Finefrock said meetings today will determine whether he and his partner, James A. Nettleton Jr., can assemble the necessary financing for the project.

Lancaster is competing for one of two Category 2 licenses to operate a stand-alone casino outside of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

The application due Wednesday in Harrisburg must outline how the applicants will pay for a $50 million license to operate a casino. The applicants must also pay $21,050 in fees when they submit their plan.

It is the terms of the financial arrangements, Finefrock said, that weren’t finalized.

“I don’t have it in my hand yet. I want it in my hand,” Finefrock said.

Applications must be postmarked by Wednesday to be considered for one of the available licenses, according to Nick Hays, communications director for the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

Hays added that licensing staff will check applications for completeness and work with any applicants that may have missing or incomplete information.

State Sen. Gibson E. Armstrong, an outspoken opponent of the casino plan, said the last-minute scramble proves the proposal won’t work.

“They don’t seem to have a very viable plan. They’re not familiar with the gaming industry,” he said of the two lawyers working to bring slot machines to Lancaster.

“There seem to be more flaws in their proposal than people were inclined to believe,” Armstrong said today.

Armstrong added that the casino partners had not secured public or official backing, or even settled on a final site.

Finefrock said that while application papers would be for a casino at the Bulova Building in downtown Lancaster, the partners were still considering other city locations.

Those alternate sites include the Burle Industries property on New Holland Pike, the Lancaster Stockyards along Marshall Avenue, and the former Kemps Foods on Hempstead Road, in addition to another industrial site near Kemps Foods.

“If we can get our hands on one of those sites, it is going to be up to city council,” Finefrock said.

The attorneys would need special approval from the three-member zoning hearing board to operate the casino in the Bulova Building but nothing from Lancaster City Council.

However, if they try to open the casino on any of the other properties they would need both a zoning change and city council approval.

Lancaster mayor-elect Rick Gray said today he continues to oppose the Bulova Building site for the casino but would remain neutral on a proposal away from downtown.

“To be totally opposed to it, when it is one of few avenues of resources for us in the city, just wouldn’t be appropriate, I don’t think,” Gray said.

“I just don’t think it works downtown,” he said.

Finefrock said the last couple days have been hectic as the partners work to complete their application in the face of external opposition and internal problems.

Finefrock said his work has been more difficult because a recurring neck problem has distracted Nettleton. And, Chris Raphael, the New Jersey gaming industry veteran who is working with them, is recovering from recent heart surgery.

Nevertheless, Finefrock said he was determined to continue.

“Never, never, never give up,” Finefrock said, quoting Winston Churchill.

“I’ve got my teeth into ... this and we’re going to keep at it until we get it done,” he said.

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