Gov. Rendell this morning said he would veto any bill to legalize table games at the state’s slot parlors that doesn’t produce at least $200 million in new revenue this year.

And, according to his figures, that means that each casino would have to pay an upfront fee of $15 million and a tax rate of at least 16 percent on blackjack, poker, roulette and other table games.

His proposal is the floor and it will be up to lawmakers to erect the ceiling.

Rendell said that striking a proper tax rate was a “pretty delicate balance” between raising the most revenue and still making it profitable for casinos to add table games.

“We don’t want to kill the Golden Goose here,” Rendell said, noting that other states, notably New Jersey, have a lower tax rate.

Rendell’s figures are between what the state House and Senate have sought to impose. The House has prepared a bill seeking a 34-percent tax rate; the senate favors 14 percent, 12 going to the state, 2 going to local municipalities.

The governor made the comments at an unrelated press briefing outside his Capitol office just before he was to meet with legislative leaders on the table games issue.

He said he would tell the legislators about his minimum revenue threshold for table games and that he wanted a bill on his desk by the end of the week.

Table games are the final piece of Pennsylvania’s budget puzzle.

The governor, 101 days late, signed a spending and revenue plan Oct. 9 for the fiscal year that started July 1. But he has withheld his backing of separate bills containing $730 million in funding to museums, hospitals and state-related universities such as Penn State, Temple and Pitt until the table games legislation is enacted.
 

Also this morning, Rendell announced that since the budget was signed, the state has rushed out $3 billion in checks to vendors and non profits -- from child care agencies to drug and alcohol treatment centers --  that have waited months for the funding.

Rendell praised the efforts of his administration as well as that of State Treasurer Rob McCord for working so quickly to get the checks in the mail. 

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