Rendell: Legalize video poker to pay for college
The Rendell administration wants to legalize video poker in bars and social clubs to help Pennsylvania families pay for college.
Rendell: Legalize video poker to pay for college
HARRISBURG — The Rendell administration wants to legalize video poker in bars and social clubs to help Pennsylvania families pay for college.
Tuition relief would start this fall for incoming freshmen and reach nearly $550 million by the time the program is fully in place, according to administration officials who estimate that 170,000 students could receive aid.
“Everyone would pay something, but only what they can afford. This plan would make college more affordable for the majority of Pennsylvanians,” said state Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak. “A family that earns $45,000 a year will save 77 percent if they send their child to a State System university, and will pay 15 percent less if they enroll their child in a local community college.”
Aides say Gov. Rendell will ask the legislature to approve video poker legislation in his annual budget address tomorrow.
If approved, tuition relief would start this fall for families earning up to $100,000 a year who have students attending any of Pennsylvania’s 14 community colleges or the 14 public universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.
Officials say the proposal would make simply make legal what is a widespread, underground activity, but opponents say there would be a high social cost.
“This is not an expansion of gaming — it is the recognition that video poker is already a thriving industry in Pennsylvania,” said Revenue Secretary Steve Stetler. “Legalizing this form of entertainment will generate more than half a billion dollars annually to support the tuition relief plan.
Proposals to legalize video poker have been floated for at least 25 years in Harrisburg. Supporters say the proposal stands a better chance of passage today with the advent of casino gaming more than five years ago.
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Great! Bar owner's could not survive without Video Poker Machine's in Philadelphia,Pa.— atomic clock
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- Fine, but why not allow full casinos as well? We're still waiting for that.— bpp1999
- Why does PA wants to go through with more gambling? How about after all the current casinos that are proposed get built, the state studies who is actually going to the casinos. If a large share is in-state residents, kill any proposals to increase gambling. More gambling from in state residents is going to create a larger welfare state and more crime.— flavious27
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- I knew it! When I saw the first headline a few days ago I knew Rendell was going to tie it to gambling. Can he manage anything without depending on gambling? I wonder what he's getting in return...In the end he'll reap from what he's sowing.— ptahan
- I knew it! When I saw the first headline a few days ago I knew Rendell was going to tie it to gambling. Can he manage anything without depending on gambling? I wonder what he's getting in return...In the end he'll reap from what he's sowing.— ptahan
- Let them pay for their own college education just like everyone else has...... Just another blow-hard scam like his property tax relief from the slots parlors, yea that 171.00 made a big diff, on a tax bill that went up by over 200.00. What a liberal, demoncrat jack*ss— Mike S.
- Stop subsidizing college tuition for everyone; tuition would stop rising every year. Colleges will either have to be priced at point that students can afford or they go out of business. College degrees are worthless anyway. This is just another tax on the ignorant.— give me liberty or death
- I thought Ed Rendell was going to sell the turnpike to pay for college,or was it the Libety Bell or the railroad-I can't remember.— oakster
- This is a joke, here is a idea off the top of my head...Give corporations tax incentives contributing to reduce educational costs. $1 they give, $1.50 off there income tax bill as an example, this kills to birds, lowers corporate tax rate that everyone is screaming about and pays for more people to get educated and be productive citizens. But no, he wants people gambling their hard earned money away which may lead to more crime and in the end drive good people and the companies that employ them out of PA. Nice work Rendell.— phillynet
- What a great idea! So after we leave our house and drive on a privately owned toll road to commute 4 hours to a service job in say, NYC, we can pay $20 in tolls to get into that city, pay an "air tax" for Bloomberg's "green infrastructure" and barely make it selling cheap junk on 42nd street. Assuming our service-sector job is still there by the time we get to work, we rush to a second job (to get the last $200 to meet the near-foreclosure mortgage payment). After being tired of that, we scramble home, pay more privatized tolls THEN get to a bar to relax playing video poker at the bar, and if we're lucky we can get some Afghan heroin to make it not hurt so much, (and remember, the UN says it helps save banks too!) and have the happy thought that our kids will be able to afford school. Wonderful. Why didn't FDR just do that? Why go through all the work of bankruptcy reorganization and those public work projects. Oh, I forgot, that was then and these are different times. My bad.— ryan1331
- To Pa Revenue Secretary Steve Stetler, If video poker is already a thriving industry in Pa, why does it have to be legalized? Why isn't LEGAL already? I quess people with gambling promblems could find solace in the fact that even though they won't be able to pay for normal expenditures, at least they WON'T have to worry about their children being able to attend college because they will be indirectly paying for their children and everyone else's children. Unless of course the problem gamblers happen to be Senior Citizens, who are more apt to suffer at yet another money making scheme by the Commonwealth of Pa. What's next? How about letting the Commonwealth of Pa. sell illegal drugs? Afterall, isn't that also a THRIVING industry?— TheGamblingCounselor
- Gambling revenue works. Look how it cleaned up AC.— The-Roof-Is-On-Fire
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- Why not just fund this good idea (a, good affordable post secondary education is key to keeping and drawing middle class families to the state) through existing revenues generated by liquor and wine sales. I lived in SC when that state had unregulated poker machines, they were everywhere. Bars, laundramats, convienience stores, etc. It was not good. Nor was the states idea (following GA) to turn their lottery proceeds into a curious scholarship for the states B students. In short, giving the money to the consumer led to accelerated costs (3rd party payer problem) and most losing their scholarships in their first year. The money should go to the colleges with a requirement that tuition is reduced.— bobcitydoc
- Call this proposal the "Protect Big Government Act". When will the government get that all these handouts simply make everything more expensive. Just as who have to pay higher tolls at the bridges. Maybe this will show those who voted for this guy what he really thinks of the citizens of the state: nothing but sources for revenue.— dr. know
- Video poker isn't producing/creating a product...it just steals money from other industries. Rendell's only solutions seem to be gambling. I'm sure some of his cronies will be dipping their hands into this...just watch.— rbpeeple
- Pretty good Ed? Let the poor (gamblers) pay for the rich kids high school and college. We the people won't have dork, when your done thinking up ways to move money. I guess the synogogue, is shifting it's casino priority.— FJG JR
- How could Ed do this in good conscience given the facts: 1. The HOUSE wins or else there is no profit. Therefore there are more LOSERS than winners. 2. Gambling addicts, most of whom cannot afford it, lose everything eventually. 3. It is morally reprehensible that he has done this. He is actually making the poor poorer.— mick314
- Rendell is an intellectual lightweight. I know loafs of bread that can come up with better revenue ideas than the governor.— Timmy
- NO! Let SugarHouse and Foxwoods get up and running. There's already gambling in every corner bar in the city. Move it on the River and out of our neighborhoods.— PhillyS1980
- I thought Rendell was going to add $100. to the cost of a PA Turnpike speeding ticket and use all of this money to pay for college tuition.— texaswhiplash
