Gaming Legislation Is on the Table

The draft of the bill allows for up to 12 slot venues-–eight at racetracks and four in other parts of the state. If the legislation is enacted, each venue would be allowed to have up to 3,000 slot machines, and the Gaming Control Board will have the ability to approve an additional 2,000 slot machines after a facility has been in operation for at least a year.

Slot machine venues located at racetracks would be required to pay a one-time license fee of $50 million. The non-track slots venues would be required to pay a $75-million, one-time license fee.

"Allowing slot machines at racetracks," Rendell says, "will not only raise the state's share of school funding to 44%, reducing the burden from local districts, but also provide a sorely needed boost to the Commonwealth's horse racing industry." He says that industry is responsible for 35,000 jobs, "jobs we can't afford to lose."

The $1-billion annual return from slots, he also says, would allow the state's property taxes to decrease by 23%. Property tax relief would begin once gaming has generated $750 million in revenue. In Philadelphia, the revenue from slots would be used to reduce the wage tax, instead of property taxes. At the anticipated $1-billion level of revenue, Philadelphia's resident wage tax would be reduced to a little more than 3.8%, and the commuter wage tax to a little more than 3.6%. Philadelphia's resident and commuter wage tax is widely seen as a major factor in the city's failure to attract more businesses and also as a culprit in its loss of businesses to other locations, such as New Jersey and Delaware.

"We are ready to work with the legislature to resolve remaining issues and differences in the hopes that this legislation can reach my desk in the next few weeks," Rendell says.