Correction appended
Pennsylvania legislators think they might have an ace up their sleeves with legalizing table games in Pennsylvania casinos.
The proposed state budget relies on the future legalization of table games in Pennsylvania. And while proponents of the games see them as an untapped revenue source, those in opposition see legalization as harmful to the state and its citizens.
Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre, said legislators "are balancing a budget on Monopoly money."
"There is no guarantee that they are going to garnish the money that they think they are," he said. And he sees signs of danger in the legislature's hasty handling of the hot-button issue.
"With any other major public policy change, you would run hearings ... before you decide whether this is a good thing to do or not," Benninghoff said.
Still, to some politicians, the games look like a fix for a budget with a $3.8 billion deficit.
"We have cut as close to the bone as you can get and it appears that ... this is what the Republican-controlled Senate will go along with," Tor Michaels, chief of staff for Rep. Scott Conklin, D-Centre, said.
Penn National Gaming, Inc., owner of the Hollywood Casino near Harrisburg, could not be reached by press time.
Tom Shaheen, vice president for policy of the Pennsylvania Family Institute, said gambling is an industry based on people losing money, and cited a hearing Wednesday where the only people invited were casino owners.
"There are legislators who give that a lot of lip service, but when it comes time to voting on controversial issues like this ... the process is as closed as it ever was," Shaheen said.
This comes after the state Supreme Court ruled in April that a law banning contributions from donors with a financial interest in a casino was unconstitutional.
Shaheen said falling gambling revenue across the country further calls into question the $200 million in annual revenue from table games legislators plan to rake in. Slot machines have brought in only $300 million in the last five years, instead of the $5 billion in property tax relief Harrisburg promised, he said. Republicans have been unshakably opposed to broad-based taxes, while Democrats have tried to hold back on cutting what they see as critical state programs. But reliance on table game funding lacks foresight, Benninghoff said, especially after federal stimulus funding runs out in two years.
Correction: This article incorrectly states the amount of money slot machines have brought into Pennsylvania. Slot machines have brought in more than $1.3 billion since 2006, according to the state's Gaming Control Board.
