Debate wages on over legalized gambling in Pa.
HARRISBURG – On the day that Democratic leaders called for expanding legalized gambling to include poker and roulette, a debate between pro- and anti-gambling forces demonstrated how little each side has budged since slots were legalized seven months ago. Just as he vainly argued last spring, state Rep. Paul Clymer, R-Bucks, told the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association’s Government Affairs Conference on Tuesday that the 61,000 slot machines scheduled to start “ka-chinging” as early as next year are a gathering storm that will “break hearts, shed tears and tear apart families.”
Moments earlier, his fellow Bucks Republican, state Sen. Tommy Tomlinson, would argue that Pennsylvanians are already crossing the state’s borders to spend $4 billion a year on gambling. If people are going to gamble, he asked, why not let Pennsylvania profit from the jobs, development, entertainment and money that casinos bring?
Neither side was giving ground in arguments that volleyed between the economic benefits of slot machines versus the social costs of gambling addiction and increased organized crime, alcoholism and prostitution.
But in a bit of fortuitous timing, state Rep. Mike Veon, D-Beaver had just announced that he is introducing legislation to allow poker – including blackjack – and roulette at the 14 casinos that have yet to open statewide.
Veon said had he written the gambling bill that passed last summer he would have included those games along with slots. Still, he said the chances of his bill passing are slim.
“My colleagues’ appetite for gaming is satisfied,” he said.
Tomlinson, one of the architects of the gambling bill, was asked what would happen to the state’s share of gambling money that is to be used for school property tax relief if school districts don’t opt into the plan, as many have been reluctant to do.
The third-term senator said he believed that money would go back into the pool to be shared by those districts that do opt in to the plan.
“[School boards] don’t like the backend referendum,” he said, referring to the demand that school boards get voters’ permission before raising taxes more than the rate of inflation. “But if we don’t slow down the growth of educational budgets the [gambling] money will be soon be gone.”
Just when taxpayers will realize any significant savings is still unclear. The state has said it needs to collect $1 billion a year from gambling before taxes can be lowered on the average of $333 a year.
Christopher Craig, a lawyer for Senate Democrats who helped author the gambling bill, said Tuesday that $1 billion figure won’t be reached in the first few years casinos are operating.
“Probably in the fifth year,” he said.
Until that time, Veon painted a picture of hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in the state by gambling companies, significant development at the 14 gambling sites and the creation of entertainment magnets to attract tourists.
“Gambling is a brand new industry with 50,000 jobs attached,” he said. “These will be union jobs with an average salary between $30,000 and $35,000 with healthcare.”
Still, Clymer said, any gains would be offset by the “severe social costs” of gambling addiction, dysfunctional families and an increased number of suicides and crimes.
Rick Martinez can be reached at 717-705-6330 or begin rmartinez@calkins-media.com rmartinez@calkins-media.com end