HARRISBURG, Pa. — They will arrive at Pennsylvania's capital having spent millions of dollars for architectural renderings, traffic studies, scale models, DVDs and PowerPoint presentations to prove they deserve a gambling license in what could be one of the nation's largest slot-machine states.

Beginning today, executives, investors and entrepreneurs vying for the most competitive of Pennsylvania's slots licenses will haul out their expensive props for a series of public hearings. The pitches by 13 groups for five standalone slots licenses represent the best — and last — opportunities they will have to impress state gambling regulators.

"A lot of preparation has gone into this because this is your chance to demonstrate to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board that we rightfully should have a gaming license," said Pat Croce, the motivational speaker and former Philadelphia 76ers president who heads an investor group that is paired up with Donald Trump's casino company. "We're coming fully loaded to give a dynamite presentation. I wouldn't miss this for the world. This is our chance."

The seven days of hearings will stretch out over four weeks. When they finish on Dec. 5, board members will have 15 days to make up their minds before they are scheduled to vote Dec. 20. The applicants' level of experience, the amount of minority involvement, and plans for dealing with gambling addiction are some of the factors to be considered.

The gambling halls, each costing hundreds of millions of dollars, will be packaged with restaurants, spas, movie theaters and towering hotels, and wrapped in light towers, marinas, fountains, parks and boardwalks. Paying close attention will be anti-casino activists, neighborhood groups and local officials who are hoping to shape the outcome, and slot-machine manufacturers, who are already padding their bottom lines with orders from the Keystone State.

First to appear this week will be the five groups competing for the two licenses earmarked for Philadelphia. The casino groups, which will testify over three days, are led by billionaire Neil Bluhm, Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., Pinnacle Entertainment Inc., the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and Planet Hollywood International Inc.

Philadelphia is highly prized because it will become the largest city in the country with casinos.

In July 2004, Pennsylvania legalized up to 61,000 slot machines at 14 sites as a way to generate money for public schools and boost the economy. In the spring, the gaming board heard testimony from the public on the various proposals. Earlier this fall, the gaming board awarded conditional slots licenses to six horse-racing tracks, the first of which is expected to open its slots parlor on Tuesday.

But the 2004 law practically guaranteed licenses to the racetracks, and only one application is pending for the two licenses set aside for established resorts. In contrast, competition for the five standalone licenses has been stiff.

In Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, applicants have trumpeted their willingness to spend money on civic or charitable causes. For months, the groups have massaged and revamped their projects to try to answer criticism from neighbors, local officials and others.

Whatever efforts the casino groups have made, some local residents have remained steadfastly opposed to casinos going up in their neighborhoods. Earlier this month, a dozen Philadelphia civic groups, businesses and residents asked Pennsylvania's highest court to halt the award of the standalone slots licenses. They argued that the law did not give enough guidance to the gaming board when it told members to take into account the impact of gambling on surrounding communities.

And while gaming board officials say they will consider community responses to the proposed slots parlors, others, including the Pittsburgh Gaming Task Force, continue to press the applicants for improvements.