Two months after their opening in Pennsylvania, two slot parlors reported that in just the first week of the new year, gamblers waged over $97 million in the slot machines.

The Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, which opened in November, and Philadelphia Park in Bensalem, which opened in December, each with more than 1,000 slot machines in operation, have paid out $88 million to the patrons.

After 11 new slot parlor licenses were awarded last month, Pennsylvania took another step toward becoming a gambling state.

Some Penn State gamblers, like Brian Garman (sophomore-engineering), said the new licenses are a step in the right direction.

"I don't know if the slot machines alone will be a big hit, but I do think that this opens the door for other games to be introduced as well," Garman said.

"If we eventually have casinos with tournaments and cash tables, it would be amazing and those places would be packed."

While large-scale casinos are not in the state's immediate future, the new slot parlors will soon be a reality for many Pennsylvania cities.

There were numerous locations statewide considered for the new sites and, despite the huge success of slot parlors so far, State College and Centre County were not considered as a location, Downtown State College Improvement District Director Teresa Sparacino said.

"Our tourism is based on football, conferences and sports camps," Sparacino said.

"The police have so much on their hands with alcohol problems already, so I'm sure that had something to do with why we weren't considered."

A police supervisor was not available for comment by press time yesterday.

While the new slot parlors mean another fun activity for some, for the state government, it has another meaning entirely.

Government officials are constantly seeking new sources of state revenue and, with the awarding of more licenses on Dec. 20, they may have found their answer.

The state of Pennsylvania has a 54 percent tax on casino revenue, and the money is reserved for property tax relief.

In Philadelphia, the 54 percent tax would allow a cut in the city's wage tax paid by people who work in the city, according to a press release from Gov. Ed Rendell.

The release said casinos are projected to take in $2 billion a year, and, at that rate, Philadelphia, which has plans to open two new casinos in the near future, could expect a 13 percent cut in the wage tax.

While the wage tax cut and gambling opportunities are good news for some Philadelphia residents, for others, including Casino-Free Philadelphia spokesman Daniel Hunter, the negative impact that opening casinos in local neighborhoods would have outweighs any benefits that they may produce.

"No matter where you live in the city, whenever a casino comes in, it increases crime, prostitution, environmental and health concerns, so in the long run it reduces home ownership and neighborhoods dissolve," Hunter said.

"Also, the new traffic plans call for an additional 40,000 cars on our streets each day on average and every traffic analysis I've seen has said this is not do-able."

Hunter is part of a group that has been following the development of casinos in Pennsylvania since 2004 and they are working actively to keep them out of Philadelphia neighborhoods.

Hunter said Casino-Free Philadelphia is currently working with lawyers to put together a charter change and to ask the city to give citizens a chance to voice their opinions with a vote on the matter in the next election.

While it would take a lot of work for Casino-Free Philadelphia to reverse any decisions the city has made, the licenses awarded are preliminary until fees are paid, court appeals are settled and construction is completed, Hunter said.

An official commencement date for the construction is still being decided.