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6/24/2009 3:32 AM

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The ink on the bill legalizing slot machines in Pennsylvania was barely dry when Rep. Bill DeWeese proposed a further expansion of gambling to include poker, blackjack, roulette and other table games. Our reaction at the time was negative. We had opposed the slots casinos originally and feared that immediately adding more opportunities to gamble was asking for trouble.

Pennsylvanians, at least those in the southwestern corner of the state, have now had two years to adjust to slot machines. The Meadows opened a new permanent casino this year and has produced revenues that exceeded what we would have believed possible.

Last week, when DeWeese again introduced table games legislation, he made a valid point: There is no basic difference between sliding a $20 bill into a slot machine and slapping it down on a poker table. Actually, poker and blackjack, like handicapping horse races, requires considerable skill as compared to the blind luck of pushing a button on a machine.

Table games would feed on the popularity of ESPN broadcasts and celebrity poker tournaments which have increased interest in poker, especially among younger people. DeWeese cited industry figures that anticipate more slots revenue because high-rollers headed for the tables would bring their spouses who might be more comfortable sticking with slot machines.

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We shudder at the notion of gambling as economic development - we would much prefer manufacturing operations - but the industry estimates the creation of 16,000 jobs statewide and more than $300 million in revenue in the first year alone. An 18 percent daily tax would go into the fund that provides tax relief for homeowners, and a local share assssment of 2 percent would add to the pot of money available to municipal projects in host counties.

We still have reservations about the notion of competing with neighboring states, West Virginia in this area and New Jersey on the east, for gambling dollars. The Meadows already seems quite successful without table games, and West Virginia might respond by escalating to riverboat gambling, which Pennsylvania would then be pressured to follow.

But while blackjack, poker and roulette will increase the opportunities for people to squander their hard-earned money, they would continue to be restricted to specific destinations, and players would have to make a conscious decision to go there. Unlike legalizing poker machine payoffs in bars, we would not be opening the flood gates to unrestricted gambling on every street corner.

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2 comments

Gambling = disease. : 6/24/2009
The more people waste money on gambling - which for the most part goes out of state - the less there is for any other viable and deserving business or industry. Gambling is an addictive disease with the only cure being complete abstinence. The less of it around, the better. Besides, just who is it that has this money to WASTE on gambling?

ns

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Tax relief? : 6/24/2009
Really, "...An 18 percent daily tax would go into the fund that provides tax relief for homeowners." Where and when have we heard this before? I'm still looking for the first penny of relief as a result of the first proposal several years ago. This is yet one more sham to have the Harrisburg group fill their coffers for money to spend on pet projects (e.g. new arena in downtown Pittsburgh).

R.

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