Slot machines are on their way to Pennsylvania, but students hoping to test their luck in Centre County might be disappointed.

Penn National Race Course, a horse racing track about 100 miles away, near Harrisburg, will most likely house the nearest slots, two lawmakers familiar with the legislation said yesterday.

Gov. Ed Rendell signed the legislation legalizing slot machines Monday, after nearly two years of debate about slot machines that had continued since Rendell proposed the idea during his 2002 gubernatorial campaign.

The legislation allows up to 61,000 machines at 14 sites, making Pennsylvania second only to Nevada with its number of slot machines. Seven of the sites will be horseracing tracks, five will be stand-alone slot parlors and two sites will be located at resorts.

Taxes on the slot machines are expected to bring in $1 billion a year and will be used to reduce property taxes that ultimately fund schools, though lawmakers have cautioned that the revenue stream wouldn't exist until at least 2006.

In phone interviews yesterday, two local legislators, Sen. Jake Corman, R-Bellefonte and Rep. Lynn Herman, R-Centre, explained their opposition to gambling legislation and discussed several of the related issues associated with the slot machines. Both Corman and Herman said they expect gambling advocates will approach the state legislature again in several years, requesting that the state legalize other forms of gambling such as table games or video poker.

"If gambling revenues do not meet the Rendell administration's expectations and as the novelty of slot machines wears off, there will be increased pressure to expand to other forms of gambling," Herman said.

Both legislators said they received overwhelmingly negative responses from their constituents regarding the idea of slot machines. Corman said his office received more than 500 e-mail messages and phone calls from those opposed, though he acknowledged opponents would most likely be more vocal than supporters.

In discussing his opposition to the slots, Herman cited a campaign pledge he made to oppose the expansion of gambling in Pennsylvania.

"By everyone's acclimation for or against [slot machines] it's acknowledged that slots are addictive and ruin peoples' lives through bankruptcy," Herman said.

He added that gambling "brings with it other vices including crime, drug trafficking, alcoholism and cigarette smoking."

Proponents of slot machines have argued that Pennsylvania loses money on an annual basis as people travel out of state to New Jersey and West Virginia to gamble and Corman said he did expect tax relief would come from the revenue stream of slots in Pennsylvania.

"What if another state legalizes prostitution, are we going to legalize it? I'm not comparing prostitution and gambling but the point remains," Corman said. "I think we're going into a great unknown and we have to react as it progresses."

Student reaction to slot machines was mixed, with few students opposing the slots outright.

Jennifer Overberg, (graduate-chemistry) from Las Vegas, said she had seen the problems gambling can create firsthand, though she isn't opposed to the idea of slots.

"In Las Vegas, slot machines are in grocery stores, airports, laundromats and [convenience stores]. Lots of people who move there become addicted to gambling because it's everywhere. If the slots are at racetracks I don't think it's a problem," Overberg said.

Brian O'Dell (senior-supply chain information systems) said he wouldn't travel to Penn National Race Course to play slot machines. He said he thought slot machines target older people as opposed to those of traditional student age.

"It's for inexperienced gamblers and our age would be more interested in poker and blackjack. Slots are toward older-aged people," O'Dell said.

He said his support for the machines was based on the fact that part of the revenue stream will go to reducing property tax and funding schools.

Steve Yemenijian (senior-mechanical engineering) said he supports the slot machines if "it helps the economy of the state," but that he wouldn't patronize them in Pennsylvania.

"I would go to Atlantic City if I'm going to gamble. It's more for the whole experience. I wouldn't go somewhere in semi-rural Pennsylvania to gamble away my money," Yemenijian said.