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Table games bill gets a hearing
HARRISBURG - The debate on gambling in Pennsylvania shifted Thursday, if only briefly, to craps, poker and blackjack, instead of whether the Legislature set up a flawed regulatory mechanism to vet who should win a slot-machine casino license.
The Democratic-led House Gaming Oversight Committee took the first step on a bill to legalize table games at the state's licensed slots casinos, holding a hearing on it despite heavy opposition in the Senate to expanding the state's gambling platter.
The hearing featured testimony by casino executives and racing industry officials, who said that legalizing table games would boost the revenue from slots gambling, benefiting taxpayers, the equine industry and more.
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"We have no doubt lost slot players," Paulos said. "Pennsylvania residents are once again going back to West Virginia to spend their entertainment dollars, and that is a shame."
He said that adding just 40 table games at the Meadows would provide the following economic benefits:
n 700 additional local jobs, generating $38 million in payroll, thus doubling the number of jobs and more than doubling the Meadows' payroll for casino operations;
n $37 million annually in additional tax revenue for local and state taxpayers;
n $31 million more in investment in the local and regional economy; and
n An additional $6 million investment by the Meadows into the permanent facility, bringing the total investment in the Meadows complex to more than $450 million.
Robert Soper, the chief executive of Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, told the panel that adding table games would help create jobs that pay $6 to $7 an hour with benefits, or $22 an hour with tips.
The experience in Iowa showed that adding table games to slots-only racetracks accelerates gains in slots revenues, said Robert DeSalvio, the president of the Sands Bethworks Casino, which is under construction in Bethlehem.
However, both Soper and DeSalvio complained that Pennsylvania's sky-high tax rate of 50-plus percent on slots revenues is impractical for table games, since dealers, supervisors and more create a higher overhead.
Gambling industry officials say table games are rebounding in popularity, and have the potential to draw bigger spenders from farther away who may stay in town longer and spend more money at hotels, shops and restaurants.
In the meantime, most, if not all of the state's seven operating slots parlors feature multiplayer electronic table games, in which the dealer is a prerecorded video image of a real person on a huge TV screen.
Asked by Rep. Bill Keller, D-Philadelphia, whether the growing popularity of electronic table games would eliminate the need for human dealers, Soper said he does not think so.
"When all is said and done, live table games will still dominate the table game offerings," Soper said.
Some House Republicans called the hearing premature, given Democrats' refusal thus far to hold committee hearings on GOP-sponsored bills that they say would fix flaws in the state's regulatory framework exposed by the perjury charges against one of the state's licensed casino owners.
"It is imperative that that be done before we consider an expansion into table games," Rep. Will Gabig, R-Cumberland, said at the hearing.
Lawyers for Louis DeNaples, who owns Mount Airy Casino Resort in the Pocono Mountains, say he is innocent. He was charged Jan. 30, accused of lying to state gambling control agents about alleged mob ties to win a slots license.
While many legislators say they believe table games will eventually be legalized in Pennsylvania, few if any, believe the bill can make it through the GOP-controlled Senate in the next couple years, at least.
For starters, they say, four of the state's 11 licensed slots casinos - SugarHouse Casino and Foxwoods Casino in Philadelphia, Majestic Star Casino in Pittsburgh and Sands Bethworks - are not even built yet.
"There's a lot of people who would think let's walk before we run," said Sen. Robert M. Tomlinson, R-Bucks, who helped write the 2004 law that legalized slot machines.
Gov. Ed Rendell, who campaigned in 2002 on legalizing slot machine to cut taxes, and the Senate's Democratic leader, Robert J. Mellow of Lackawanna County, have repeated a similar mantra.
However, with mid-Atlantic states building up their gambling industries to compete for revenue, Mellow said he would not be surprised if Pennsylvania legalizes table games in the next five or six years.
"The best way to bring about table games is what the competition does," Mellow said.
To view William Paulos' complete testimony, go to the news section at www.observer-reporter.com and click on "source documents."
©2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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