May 15th, 2008
The debate on gambling in Pennsylvania shifted Thursday, if only briefly, to craps, poker and blackjack, instead of whether the Legislature set up a flawed regulatory mechanism to vet who should win a slot-machine casino license.
The Democratic-led House Gaming Oversight Committee took the first step on a bill to legalize table games at the state’s licensed slots casinos, holding a hearing on it despite heavy opposition in the Senate to expanding the state’s gambling platter.
The hearing featured testimony by casino executives and racing industry officials, who said that legalizing table games would boost the revenue from slots gambling, benefiting taxpayers, the equine industry and more.
Robert Soper, the chief executive of Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, told the panel that adding table games would help create jobs that pay $6 to $7 an hour with benefits, or $22 an hour with tips.
The experience in Iowa showed that adding table games to slots-only racetracks accelerates gains in slots revenues, said Robert DeSalvio, the president of the Sands Bethworks Casino, which is under construction in Bethlehem.
However, both Soper and DeSalvio complained that Pennsylvania’s sky-high tax rate of 50-plus percent on slots revenues is impractical for table games, since dealers, supervisors and more create a higher overhead.
