The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is prepared to get tough with the Rivers Casino unless it turns over the $7.5 million required of it as part of the funding for the city's new arena.

In a complaint filed yesterday, the gaming board's Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement charged that Holdings Acquisition Co. L.P., the casino owner, violated a condition of its state license by failing to make the payment.

Unless the casino pays up or reaches a "mutually acceptable" funding agreement with the city-Allegheny County Sports & Exhibition Authority, the bureau is urging gaming board members to impose a $7.5 million penalty or fine -- the same amount due for the arena.

The proposed enforcement action now goes before the full gaming board for consideration. The board has the right to accept or reject the recommendation or to make changes to it. Unless resolved before then, the matter could go before the board at its Oct. 21 meeting.

Yesterday's action marks the second time since July the gaming board has stepped in to try to resolve a dispute between the casino and the SEA over the timing of the first arena payment.

The SEA has maintained that the payment is due this fall. However, casino officials have said they were told during talks last year to rescue the then-stalled project from all but certain bankruptcy that the first payment would not be due until at least 2010.

In its complaint, the Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement noted that former casino owner Don Barden committed to paying $7.5 million annually for 30 years as part of the agreement to build a new arena and keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh. Mr. Barden, a Detroit businessman, beat out two competitors to win the Pittsburgh slots license. The gaming board required Mr. Barden to make the payments as one of the conditions for the license.

When Mr. Barden failed to secure permanent financing for the casino, Holdings Acquisition, headed by Chicago billionaire Neil Bluhm, took over the project and agreed to honor the commitments Mr. Barden made and the conditions imposed by the gaming board.

As for the timing of the payment, the Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement, in the complaint, said a contract related to the arena bonds showed the casino operator's portion was to start Oct. 1, 2009.

It also stated that in January 2008 the SEA had provided Mr. Barden with a draft of a payment agreement which said the first installment would be due Sept. 15, 2009. The SEA later provided Holdings Acquisition with a copy of the draft, according to the complaint.

As a result, Holdings "either knew or should have known" that it "would be required to make an initial debt service payment by October 2009," the complaint stated.

It also said the SEA had offered the casino a chance to break the $7.5 million payment into two installments each year.

If the casino fails to live up to the agreement, the state would be required to pick up the tab, the complaint stated, adding that the "burden of paying the shortfall ... will fall upon Pennsylvania citizens in the form of additional taxes."

Dan Fee, a Rivers spokesman, said the casino would have no comment on the complaint.

State Sen. Sean Logan, D-Monroeville, said the action is "probably the push that needs to happen to kind of close the deal" and force the casino to make the payment.

Mr. Logan, an SEA board member, said he is still willing to give the casino the opportunity to divide the annual payment into two installments if that would help.

"We're not trying to punish the Rivers in any way. If we can minimize the payment upfront, that's fine with me," he said.

At the same time, Mr. Logan and other Pittsburgh area senators are seeking to amend a bill legalizing table games in Pennsylvania to bar the Rivers Casino from receiving a license to add them until it makes the payment for the arena, which is scheduled to open next year.

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