HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)-Pennsylvania gambling regulators on Wednesday cleared the way for Philadelphia to become the nation’s largest city with a casino, while rejecting Donald Trump’s bid for a slot-machine parlor and plans for another near the historic Gettysburg battlefield.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board chose from among 13 groups of casino giants, politically connected investors, celebrities and nationally known developers when it awarded five licenses for standalone slots parlors.

Winners include groups led by billionaire Chicago-based developer Neil G. Bluhm and the Connecticut-based Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, each of which plan to build on Philadelphia’s riverfront. Detroit-based casino developer Don H. Barden won the single license up for grabs in Pittsburgh, where he plans to build in the city’s stadium district.

Northeastern Pennsylvania businessman Louis A. DeNaples won a license for the now-shuttered Mount Airy Lodge in the Pocono Mountains that he plans to reopen next year. And a group led by Las Vegas-based casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp. won a license to build at the rusting flagship factory of the defunct Bethlehem Steel Corp.

“I think everybody, to a person, is going to be able to point to Bethlehem and the Bethworks project and say, fies what was done,”‘ said Bethlehem Mayor John B. Callahan, who touted the beat out two other competitors for Pittsburgh’s license, wiped away a tear after hearing the seven-member gaming board vote, one by one, to approve his application in front of a packed auditorium across the street from the Capitol.

All told, the board awarded 11 permanent slots licenses Wednesday, each allowing as many as 5,000 machines. The other six licenses were earmarked for the state’s horse-racing tracks, which already received conditional licenses earlier this year. So far, two racetracks – Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs and Philadelphia Park – already have opened slots parlors, while racetracks in Chester and near Erie are expected to open slots parlors in the next two months.

The huge expansion into slot machines could make Pennsylvania one of the highest grossing commercial gambling states in the nation, if the state’s projections for $3 billion in slots revenue comes true.

Gov. Ed Rendell rejuvenated a 25-year drive to legalize casino-style gambling in Pennsylvania by promising that slots revenue would help reduce property taxes and revive the state’s declining horse-racing industry. The law passed in 2004 authorized up to 61,000 slot machines at 14 sites.

The gaming board would not discuss the reasons behind its choices, saying those would be made clear in a document to be issued in the coming days. The board’s chairman, Tad Decker, said the members needed several hours Tuesday night to reach unanimous decisions after months of analyzing the projects.

In a conference call with reporters, Rendell said Decker told him that Barden, among other things, did the best job explaining his project and had the best traffic access to his site. Decker also said DeNaples had an edge because a competitor’s much bigger proposal in the Poconos was out of character with the region, according to Rendell.

The board’s decisions Wednesday helped two Indian tribes, the Mohegans and the Mashantucket Pequots, open their first casinos that are not on tribal land in Connecticut, the first of what could be many for both tribes.

It also rewarded people with political connections, including DeNaples, a longtime political donor, and two Philadelphia groups that were stacked with politically connected investors.

For instance, Bluhm’s group included former state Supreme Court Justice William Lamb and lawyer Richard Sprague, who represents one of the primary architects of the slots law, state Sen. Vincent J. Fumo of Philadelphia. The other Philadelphia winner, the group led by the Mashantucket Pequots, includes several longtime supporters of Rendell, including Philadelphia 76ers chairman Ed Snider, who have pledged their profits to charity.

On the losing side was a hotly contested proposal for a casino near the Civil War battlefield at Gettysburg. The proposal, led by Connecticut-based Silver Point Capital LP, spurred vocal opposition from preservationists and others, who said gambling about a mile from the Gettysburg National Military Park would sully its sanctity and family friendly atmosphere.

They planned to celebrate Wednesday with a party at a Gettysburg tavern.

“Everybody who would like to celebrate our victory is invited,” said casino opponent Jim Paddock.

The gaming board also rejected an application by Trump’s Atlantic City, N.J.-based casino company to build in northwest Philadelphia. And it rejected a proposal by St. Louis-based casino operator Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. to build next to Pittsburgh’s aging Mellon Arena and pay for a new $290 million arena for the Pittsburgh Penguins without using taxpayer money.

AP-ES-12-20-06 1845EST