Senate passes table-games bill

HARRISBURG - The state Senate tonight approved long-awaited legislation legalizing table games at slots parlors, clearing the way for final passage in the House tomorrow.

The 28-22 vote came six months after debate on expanded gambling began in the legislature amid the protracted, crisis-driven budget negotiations and just shy of a Friday deadline set by Gov. Rendell, who said that without a revenue-generating gambling bill he would have to lay off 1,000 state workers.

In addition to allowing poker, blackjack, and other table games at the 14 licensed casinos in Pennsylvania, the bill sets license fees and imposes tougher political campaign and other restrictions on members of the Gaming Control Board, and casino owners and employees.

House leaders say debate is expected to begin in their chamber as early as 11 a.m. tomorrow with a vote coming no earlier than 5 p.m. under legislature rules.

"The caucus has never failed to pass a bill it gets to the floor," said House Majority Leader Todd Eachus (D., Luzerne), shortly after a legislative conference committee approved the compromise bill.

But the narrow passage of the original bill in the House in December, 103-92, is evidence that the Democratic caucus must hold if the bill is to prevail against nearly united Republican opposition.

Rendell, who only a few weeks ago said he feared he might never see a gambling bill, was more hopeful today.

"I am hesitant to say that anything is a fait accompli, but it looks good," said Rendell at a news conference before the Senate vote. "I am very hopeful that I could have a bill on my desk as early as tomorrow, certainly no later than Thursday."

Under the bill, the state's larger racetrack casinos will pay $16.5 million per license, with smaller resort casinos paying $7.5 million. Both will pay an initial 16 percent tax, with 14 percent set aside for the state and 1 percent each for counties and local municipalities. In Philadelphia, 2 percent would go to the city.

The rate is scheduled to drop to 14 percent after June 2011, with 12 percent going to the state.

The state is relying on the up-front casino fees to cover a $250 million shortfall in this year's budget.

In a victory for Mayor Nutter, the bill allows Philadelphia to determine how its share of the revenue is spent, rather than having money set aside specifically for neighborhoods around the casinos.

It also authorizes an additional resort casino license for 2017 and exempts Philadelphia casinos from the city's smoking ban.

A proposal for two additional resort casino licenses was abandoned at the request of Senate Republicans who said they did not want to dole out more licenses when current slots license-holders - such as Foxwoods and SugarHouse in Philadelphia - were still not up and running.

Instead, a third resort casino license will be allowed in 2017 and the application process reopened for one of two previous resort casino licenses. To date, the Valley Forge Convention Center has received the only license for a resort casino.

Several groups of investors, including owners of the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Fayette County and a group hoping to start a resort casino outside Gettysburg, have signaled interest in applying for the remaining resort licenses as table games are added to the picture.

The smaller resort casinos are limited to 500 slots machines (compared with 5,000 machines at racetracks and "stand alone" casinos like Foxwoods and SurgarHouse), and gamblers must be patrons of the resort or conference facility.

During the 40-minute Senate debate, Sen. Larry Farnese (D., Phila.) said he would vote against the bill in part because it allows the Gaming Control Board to grant Foxwoods an additional two-year extension to complete its casino by Dec. 31, 2012.

"I don't understand why we're giving them another two years when they haven't shown us they can be responsible operators," he said.

Sen. Jane Orie (R., Allegheny) objected to the bill's new restrictions on Gaming Control Board members - including the absence of an outright ban on outside employment by gaming board members - saying they did not go far enough.

She also criticized provisions that would direct a percentage of local revenues from racetrack casinos to certain area hospitals, schools, and other organizations rather than to general property tax relief.

Orie said "millions will be funneled to local projects at the expense of all taxpayers."

The state House today set the groundwork for the bill's approval in the Senate by voting to send the original bill back to the Senate. That move prompted the formation of a legislative conference committee, which voted 5-1 to forward the new bill to the Senate floor.

Conference committee member Rep. Curt Schroder (R., Chester) - who cast the one negative vote - said his caucus wanted to see casino-related law enforcement duties removed from the Gaming Control Board and shifted to the state police or attorney general.