Time is running out for Don Barden to complete $800 million in financing for his North Shore casino, as he faces a deadline Monday to pay off a $200 million bridge loan or face a potential default.

Mr. Barden was locked in negotiations with international lender Credit Suisse and other banks yesterday in an effort to close on the permanent funding ahead of Monday's deadline.

He and his company, PITG Gaming LLC, obtained a $200 million bridge loan in November from Credit Suisse to start construction of the casino, between the Carnegie Science Center and the West End Bridge.

In a petition filed with the state Gaming Control Board last month, lawyers for Mr. Barden said the loan would mature Monday. At the time, they indicated he was hoping to refinance the bridge loan as part of negotiations for permanent funding.

Bob Oltmanns, Mr. Barden's spokesman, declined comment yesterday on the status of the talks, other than to say they were at the "critical stage."

"We're just not going to have anything to say while these negotiations are ongoing," he said.

Mr. Barden postponed a public hearing before the gaming board earlier this week regarding the financing, saying he needed more time to negotiate final terms and conditions.

He is trying to arrange $650 million in loans from Credit Suisse and another $150 million from a syndicate of banks for the $770 million project, including contingencies, fees and insurance.

In a bid to bolster the financing, Mr. Barden has pledged to sell his Fitzgeralds casino in downtown Las Vegas and set aside $35 million to make debt service payments in the first year of the North Shore slots parlor's operation if the money isn't required for construction.

It's unclear what would happen if Mr. Barden is unable to close on the financing and defaulted on the bridge loan.

In one recent case, Deutsche Bank began foreclosure proceedings in March related to the $3 billion Cosmopolitan casino and resort in Las Vegas after the developer missed a payment on a $760 million construction loan when the refinancing fell through. Construction of the Cosmopolitan continued uninterrupted.

Even as negotiations over the Pittsburgh financing go down to the wire, Mr. Barden faced more bad news about his casinos in Indiana, Colorado and Mississippi, which reported $7.35 million in losses during the year's first quarter, according to a quarterly report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by Majestic Star Casino LLC.

That's nearly $2.7 million more in losses than Majestic Star Casino LLC recorded for the same period in 2007 and comes on the heels of $26.1 million in losses reported by Majestic Star last year.

The problems are compounded by more than $550 million in debt, which Majestic Star has said leaves little money to make the improvements it needs to compete, particularly in Indiana, where new casinos have opened and major expansions are nearing completion. In its quarterly report, Majestic Star reported $552.3 million in long-term debt, down from $556.5 million at the end of December.

Mr. Barden has said that PITG Gaming, his Pittsburgh company, and Majestic Star are totally separate operations.

However, some analysts have said that the troubles, rightly or wrongly, could give investors pause about the Pittsburgh loans. Mr. Oltmanns declined comment on the Majestic Star quarterly report.

Mr. Barden began construction of the Pittsburgh casino in December. It is on schedule to open next May.