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   http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_610152.html

   Rendell to back legalizing video poker
   By Brad Bumsted and Mike Wereschagin
   TRIBUNE-REVIEW
   Wednesday, February 4, 2009

   HARRISBURG -- Gov. Ed Rendell today will ask the Legislature to legalize video poker machines, which long have flourished as an illegal industry in Pennsylvania, to provide tuition relief for families earning up to $100,000 per year.

   "This is not an expansion of gambling. It is the recognition that video poker is already a thriving industry in Pennsylvania," acting state Revenue Secretary Stephen H. Stetler said.

   ...

   Pennsylvania would join nine states that allow video poker. Stetler said license fees and a 50 percent tax on gross sales after payoffs to gamblers would provide $550 million annually. Bars, taverns, restaurants and clubs could have up to five machines.

   It would be the first legalization of gambling since the Legislature approved slots parlors in 2004.

   ...

   If the administration's logic is that it's OK to legalize practices that take place illegally, said Republican Rep. Doug Reichley of Allentown, "The Chicken Ranch in Reno, Nev., is looking forward to the day we open prostitution in the Capitol."

   ..

   West Virginia legalized video poker machines in 2002, said Nancy Bulla, spokeswoman for the state Lottery Commission, which regulates gambling there. The machines were legalized in part to offer full scholarships to state colleges and universities for high school graduates who meet certain academic standards, such as a 3.0 grade point average.

   In the fiscal year that ended June 30, the roughly 8,000 machines in West Virginia generated $211 million. Of the video poker money, $27 million is spent annually on the scholarship program. The rest is used for things such as infrastructure needs and school construction, Bulla said.

   There are about 17,000 video poker machines today in Pennsylvania -- about 10,000 of them in Western Pennsylvania, according to Stetler.

   "There's an awful lot of money under the table," State Police Commissioner Frank Pawlowski said.

   New machines would be necessary in many cases, officials said. Standards would be set for the machines and, like slot machines at casinos, they would be monitored electronically by the Department of Revenue.

   Video poker legalization has surfaced off and on at the Capitol since the 1980s.

   ...

   Stoddard noted video poker machines aren't a fixture in high-end bars.

   "It doesn't affect most middle-class people. It doesn't affect most wealthy people. ... It's going to affect those people who are looking for a win because they need it," Stoddard said.

   Posted 1 year ago #

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