North Shore casino developer Don Barden's Majestic Star Casino LLC continued to lose money in the first three months of the year.

Mr. Barden wants to build a $435 million casino complex on the North Shore near Carnegie Science Center, but competitors have challenged his license based on what they call the shaky finances of his other casino operations. The company claims its Pittsburgh operation would stand on its own and will be financed separately, and that the overall finances of the company are irrelevant to whether it should receive a license.

The company, which operates a pair of casinos in Gary, Ind., and single sites in Tunica, Miss., and Black Hawk, Colo., showed a loss of $4.7 million for the first three months of the year. That compares with a profit of $3.7 million in the year-ago period. Revenue fell 8.9 percent to $91.7 million from $99.9 million a year ago.

The $4.7 million loss in this year's first quarter actually is an improvement over the last quarter of 2006, when the company lost $9.5 million.

Forest City Enterprises, which wants to build a casino at Station Square, and Isle of Capri, which proposes a casino adjacent to the replacement for Mellon Arena, have cited the continuing losses in challenging the state gaming board's decision to award Pittsburgh's one slots casino license to Mr. Barden's company. The state Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on the license decision Tuesday.

Bob Oltmanns, a spokesman for Mr. Barden's Pittsburgh operation, PITG Gaming, said most of the losses can be attributed to the Gary operation, where in 2005 Mr. Barden bought an adjacent, struggling casino formerly owned by Donald Trump. Efforts to improve the operation there have increased costs, he said.

"It takes a while to turn around a business like that," Mr. Oltmanns said. "That's what the numbers reflect. We think in the coming quarters that will improve."

The Gary operation increased promotions and took over restaurant operations in the first quarter and, in an effort to improve revenue, last week converted a former sports bar to a baccarat room.

Mr. Oltmanns noted the company has $27.3 million cash on hand, up $1.8 million from the end of the year, and cut its debt from $546 million to $534.8 in the first quarter.

"It really has more to do with cash on hand, and from that standpoint we're a pretty healthy company," he said.

Losses at other facilities should have no impact whether PITG gets the Pittsburgh license, Mr. Oltmanns said.

"All of that stuff is irrelevant to the Pittsburgh operation," he said. "We have a full financing commitment to build the Pittsburgh casino."