Sucker's Bet

Opinion: When it comes to gaming, don’t bet on the politicians
Posted in Opinion on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 7:14 pm by Alan Kerr

REMEMBER WHEN GOV. RENDELL and gambling proponents launched their lobbying effort to legalize slot machines in Pennsylvania? The state’s horse racing industry was limping along like a plow horse down the back stretch, they claimed, and only the addition of “limited” games of chance, i.e., slot machines, at the tracks could save them from extinction.

Seems like forever ago since the governor and his allies made their plea, doesn’t it? Might as well be. Their glue factory scenario turned out to be a foot-in-the-door strategy to add the commonwealth to the list of states where losing your money in a slot machine is legal and eventually pave the way for table gaming as well.

The state’s charade continued with the promise that the tax proceeds from legalized gambling would allow the state to significantly cut school property taxes. There have been some tax reductions as a result of slots. But significant reductions? Hardly. In most places, a couple of hundred dollars on a tax bill of a few thousand. Meanwhile, school taxes continue their upward creep.


Now, earlier predictions of expanded gambling beyond slot machines have come to pass. As part of the recently enacted state budget - 101 days late if you’ve forgotten - games such as poker, black jack, roulette and craps have been legalized, and work is already ongoing at several venues on the new “full service” casinos intended to rival those in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.

Unlike the deceptions of the past, lawmakers didn’t try to justify expanded gambling by saying it was going to help cut taxes or do some other specific good that might soften the opposition of gambling critics. No, the new flow of gambling money will be used to plug a hole in the state budget. Pennsylvania will henceforth rely on revenue from the casinos to balance its books and very likely increase state spending. And that’s wrong, according to Democratic state Rep. John Galloway of Lower Bucks.

Galloway’s fellow lawmakers from the lower part of the county, Republican Sen. Tommy Tomlinson and Republican Rep. Gene DiGirolamo, have put forth bills to guarantee Bensalem and Bucks County get a share of gaming revenues. Tomlinson is concerned that Pennsylvania not set the tax rate on casinos too high, fearing that could scare away some casino interests.

Galloway says that’s the wrong argument. “Whatever number we come up with (as a tax rate) is not high enough for me,” said Galloway, who recognizes that the goal of legalizing gambling “to significantly cut property taxes is a failed promise.” He said table game revenue should not be headed for the state’s general fund but rather should go to making good on the property tax pledge.

That’s not going to happen. More than likely, lawmakers will use the increased revenue from casinos to expand the budget, not reduce it or give property owners a bigger break. That’s just not in the nature of politicians.

Too many promises have already been made and broken since the state got into the gambling business. Want to put money on whether future actions by the Legislature and the governor vis-a-vis gambling are in the best interests of the taxpayers?

That could be called a sucker bet.