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Showing posts with label Mount Airy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mount Airy. Show all posts

Saturday, October 1, 2016

UPDATED: Court strikes down casino payments to host communities in Pennsylvania




Geoff Freeman, CEO of the American Gaming Association, said as the ... made by casinos since the state passed the casino gambling law in 2004.


After rejecting city budgets in 2014 and 2015 and withholding about $20 million in gambling tax revenues, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that ...


The Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem provides its host city with almost $10 million annually in slot-machine revenues. (Express-Times file photo).


HARRISBURG, Pa. (CN) — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that a municipal tax on slot machines outside Philadelphia violates the state ...


With revenues at every casino always falling below $500 million a year, the $10 million has always been higher than the percentage take would be.

Casinos, with their flashy slot machines, lavish buffets and smoky table games, came with heavy strings attached that now serve as fiscal lifelines in ...


Former Harrison Mayor Jeff Crockett said he saw enough economic potential in the proposedcasino amendment that he hosted petitions for people in ...


Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, for example, pays $16 million in fees to local communities. The $8.8 million Bethlehem gets is equivalent to 100 ...



The state's highest court on Wednesday ruled a formula in the state gaming act that determines how much gaming revenue casinos are required to ...




The state Supreme Court has struck down casino host fees that cities have come ... By striking down the tax paid by casinos, the court strips more than $16 ... state gaming law imposes a 2 percent fee on gross slot machine revenues, ...

High court strikes down casino payments to host communities
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania's highest court is striking down the tax that casinos pay their host communities, potentially devastating local ...

Local Governments Could Lose Funding From Casinos - Erie News Now
Millions of dollars are given to local governments each year, from fees paid by Presque Isle Downs, and other casinos in the state. But now, those ...


Hollywood Casino at Penn National Racetrack in Dauphin County. A court ruling will force the state legislature to reconsider payments to casinos' host ...


That difference cost nine Pennsylvania casinos a total of $48.5 million in the year ended June 30, according the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board's ...


Luzerne annually receives approximately $12 million on average in Local Share Account program money from gambling revenues from the Mohegan ...


HARRISBURG, Pa. —Pennsylvania's highest court on Wednesday struck down a requirement that has forced casinos to pay tens of millions of dollars ...


PLAINS TOWNSHIP — Communities where Pennsylvania's casinos are located could lose tens of millions of dollars, thanks to a state Supreme Court ...



People sit at the bar at Mohegan Sun Pocono casino on Christmas day. ... because it is not uniform and affects Pennsylvania's 12 casinos differently.


HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania's highest court on Wednesday struck down a requirement that has forced casinos to pay tens of millions of dollars to ...



Farmland preservation could suffer if state lawmakers fail to restore $16 million in casino host fees paid out by Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem.

Court strikes down casino payments to host communities in Pennsylvania

Published  12:16 PM EDT Sep 29, 2016

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the roughly 4 percent "local share assessment" is unconstitutional because it is not uniform and affects Pennsylvania's 12 casinos differently.
The justices said they would delay the effect of their decision striking down the tax for four months to give lawmakers an opportunity to fix it.
"We are mindful that our decision may significantly affect many counties and municipalities that have ordered their affairs in reliance upon" the casino tax revenue, Justice David Wecht wrote in the 18-page opinion.
Under the state's original 2004 casino law, casinos must pay at least 4 percent of gross slot-machine gambling revenues to their host communities. That includes 2 percent to counties and 2 percent or $10 million, whichever is greater, to municipalities.
  
SugarHouse Casino in Philadelphia is exempt, as are two smaller "resort" casinos: Valley Forge Casino in suburban Philadelphia and Lady Luck Casino Nemacolin in southwestern Pennsylvania.
  
But Mount Airy Casino in northeastern Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains had asked the court to strike down the $10 million host fee, arguing that it violates the state constitution by imposing a heavier tax burden on lower performing casinos.
  
Some $141 million in slots revenue was paid in the last fiscal year to counties and municipalities, according to Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board data. That included about $48 million paid by casinos to satisfy the $10 million host fee requirement.
  
Gov. Tom Wolf's office declined comment on the ruling Wednesday. Senate officials said the decision could have far-reaching effects.
  
"We will take action and we'll do it in such a way to maintain the casino obligation to our local communities," Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Browne, R-Lehigh, told the Morning Call of Allentown. "This would absolutely devastate these towns."
  
Douglas Hill, executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, said the money is significant for counties.
  
"Very clearly, the gaming revenue has gone to legitimate and worthwhile local purposes, all aimed at improving the community, and equally for the host municipalities," Hill said.
  
The amount of the host fee is equivalent to the cost of 100 police officers, Bethlehem Mayor Robert Donchez told the Morning Call.
  
"So this is something that we're very concerned about," Donchez said.
  
The court also awarded relief to Mount Airy Casino, although the amount was not immediately clear.



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Sunday, August 21, 2016

Could Bethlehem lose casino cash cow?





Could Bethlehem lose casino cash cow?

 Of The Morning Call
AUGUST 20, 2016

Pennsylvania lawmakers and casino executives have been squabbling for months about whether things such as online gambling or satellite casinos could help close the state's budget deficit, but another fight winding through the state Supreme Court could have a far bigger impact on Main Streets across the state.
Mount Airy Casino is asking the court to strike down the $10 million host fee most casinos pay to the towns where they are located, arguing it violates the state constitution by putting a much heavier tax burden on lower performing casinos.
If Mount Airy wins its case, it could eliminate a large chunk of the annual fee casino towns across the state use to pay for a wide variety of items.

"Our host fee is equivalent to the salaries of 100 police officers," said Bethlehem Mayor Robert Donchez. "That's a significant amount of money. That host fee is extremely important to our budget."
Sands Casino in Bethlehem is not contesting the fee it pays Bethlehem, but any decision issued by the Supreme Court likely would dictate how every casino must pay — or not pay.
A Mount Airy win would be a devastating blow to the budgets of most casino towns that collect the fee, but there's no need for those municipal leaders to panic, just yet. State legislators suggest they'd move quickly to alter the law to replace the fee — or at least they'd try. State legislators have spent much of the past year debating how to expand gambling to raise more money to balance the budget, but have not been able to reach consensus.
"I don't know exactly how we'd go about it, but given that this fee has been established for a decade, we're not just going to let this money be stripped from municipalities that rely on it," said Sen. Pat Browne, who chairs the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.
Unequal tax
The case is being defended by attorneys from the state attorney general's office, which argues the tax scheme does not violate state law.
The case started in April 2015, when Mount Airy filed a legal challenge that argues the "local share tax" violates the uniformity clause in the state constitution, which requires that "all taxes shall be uniform, upon the same class of subjects." As a constitutional challenge to the gaming law, the matter was eligible to bypass lower courts and be filed directly to state Supreme Court.
The 2004 state gaming law imposes a 2 percent fee on gross slot machine revenues, to be paid to the municipalities where the casinos were built. However, the law also states that a minimum of $10 million must be paid. Therefore, the 2 percent would only really come into play once gross slot machine revenues for a casino went above $500 million.
Because that's never happened, the nine casinos affected by the law — SugarHouse Casino in Philadelphia and two resort casinos aren't subject to the minimum requirement — simply pay $10 million a year.

That creates an unequal tax that has some casinos paying a much bigger portion of their revenues to their host community. So, while the $10 million paid by Pennsylvania's most lucrative casino, Parx in Bensalem, was just 2.8 percent of the casino's 2014 gross slot machine revenue, the $10 million Mount Airy paid was more than 7 percent of its $140 million in revenue for 2014.
Each day, the Department of Revenue siphons 2 percent of all slot machine revenues from each casino and distributes it quarterly to the host community. At the end of the year, if that casino hasn't generated $10 million in fees then state regulators instruct the casino to make the payment needed to reach the $10 million minimum.
That "true-up" payment is what Mount Airy is contesting. For Mount Airy, the payment was $7.2 million for 2015, but even successful casinos have to write big checks. Sands, for example, had to pay $4 million to reach its minimum for last year.
In Sands' case, $3.2 million of that true-up payment went into Bethlehem's general fund and about $800,000 went to Allentown, under a deal struck between the cities before the gaming license was given to Bethlehem. It's a similar story in casino towns across the state, where casinos — depending on their revenue — pay end-of-year true-up fees ranging from Parx's $2.4 million to the $7.7 million paid by Presque Isle Casino, Erie.
"All we're asking for is uniformity and fairness, and that $10 million rate is neither," said Michael Sklar, the Atlantic City attorney who is co-counsel for the Mount Airy suit. "We think if the court strikes down the $10 million minimum, the 2 percent tax passes constitutional muster."
In addition to asking that $10 million minimum be struck down, Mount Airy is asking the court to award damages. While it doesn't specify how much, it has paid $57.4 million in true-up fees since it opened in 2007, second only to Presque Isle's $61.8 million.
Not a surprise
Part of Mount Airy's argument is not only that lesser performing casinos are unfairly burdened, but also that not every casino must pay the $10 million minimum. SugarHouse Casino in Philadelphia pays a straight 4 percent of its gross revenue. That consists of the same 2 percent all state casinos pay to their host county, plus another 2 percent that represents the local share, but without the $10 million minimum Mount Airy and other casinos pay.
Christopher Craig, a Pennsylvania Treasury attorney and former legislative counsel who wrote much of the gaming law, wouldn't predict how the court will rule, but he explained why the law was written the way it was.
The proposed Philadelphia County casinos in the law weren't given a $10 million minimum because the city was expected to be the only municipality that would have two casinos, therefore there was no need for a minimum. As it turned out, SugarHouse has been the only casino built so far, while the other gambling license has been delayed for years.
More to the point, Craig said the host fee is just that — a fee that every casino applicant was aware of when they applied for a gambling license in 2004. Though the Mount Airy suit repeatedly refers to it as a "Local Share Tax," it was actually called a "Local Share Assessment" in the law, Craig noted.
"A cost was identified for the impact gambling would have on a municipality and that cost was $10 million," Craig said. "In exchange for engaging in an activity that would otherwise be illegal, the licensee agreed to pay a minimum of $10 million."
That's how Sands Casino CEO Mark Juliano interprets it.
"We knew exactly what we were getting into when we applied for the license," Juliano said. "We're not trying to get out of it. We don't intend to join in the suit."
But two other casinos also have raised similar challenges. Harrah's Casino in Chester filed a similar suit last year and Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh filed a nearly identical suit in July. Harrah's suit was stayed while the Mount Airy case runs its course, and Rivers withdrew its case just a few weeks after filing it, presumably to wait for the Mount Airy decision.
Both sides have spent months filing preliminary objections and briefs, and oral arguments have already been made. There's no time limit on how long the court has to deliberate on the matter, so a decision could come any day, or it could be months away.
Analysts say the court could do everything from deny the challenge, to strike down the $10 million minimum requirement — or even strike down the entire local share fee altogether. It also will have to decide whether Mount Airy and the other casinos deserve a refund of any of the the more than $320 million in true-up payments they've made the past decade.
"This is one everyone is watching closely," Browne said. "There's a lot at stake."

AT ISSUE
• Mount Airy Casino is asking the Supreme Court to strike down the $10 million host fee most casinos pay to the towns where they are located.
• All casinos pay 2 percent of all slot machine revenues to the state Department of Revenue to be distributed to host communities. However, if that amount is less than $10 million annually, casinos are required to kick in the difference.
• That difference, a "true-up" payment, is what Mount Airy is contesting. In 2015, Mount Airy's true-up payment was $7.2 million.




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Monday, August 1, 2016

Lawsuit dropped by Rivers Casino in tax dispute



Rivers Casino drops lawsuit over gambling tax paid to Pittsburgh


BY JASON CATO | Friday, July 29, 2016

Rivers Casino on Friday dropped a lawsuit it filed against the state last month claiming a gambling tax it pays to Pittsburgh is unconstitutional.
A spokesman did not offer an explanation for why the North Shore casino dropped its suit against the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Rivers was attempting to block the department from collecting the tax established by lawmakers when they legalized gambling in 2004.
Rivers attorneys claimed the municipal portion of the local share tax in the state's Gaming Act unlawfully applies different tax rates to Pennsylvania's 12 operating casinos and doesn't tax all casinos equally in terms of revenue from slot machines that goes to municipalities.
Similar lawsuits are pending by Mount Airy and Harrah's Philadelphia casinos.
For fiscal year 2015-16, Rivers earned $272 million in slots revenues, records show.
Rivers annually pays a local-share assessment to the city of 2 percent of slots revenues or $10 million, whichever is greater. It has paid $65 million to Pittsburgh since opening in 2009.
In addition to getting the tax abolished, Rivers' parent company, Holding Acquisition Co., wanted a refund on some of the money it has paid.
Pittsburgh planned to join the state in defending the claim and considered a counter-lawsuit against Rivers.
“We are pleased that the Rivers Casino changed course and withdrew this erroneous lawsuit,” said Kevin Acklin, Mayor Bill Peduto's chief of staff. “We remain vigilant to defend the commitments made by the casino to the residents of our city.”

http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/10875591-74/casino-tax-rivers




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Lawsuit dropped by Rivers Casino in tax dispute



Marie Kelley

July 30, 2016

A lawsuit was filed by Rivers Casino in Pittsburg challenging their yearly tax payment based on revenues from slot machine gaming just a few weeks ago and the suit has now been dropped. Late this afternoon, the casino announced the complaint has been withdrawn with no further comment on the matter.
The lawsuit was filed on June 27th within the Pennsylvania Supreme Court against the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue in an attempt to fight the local share tax based on the municipal portion. A spokesman for the casino, Jack Horner, did not speak any further on the matter, just to say that the lawsuit had been withdrawn.
The casino owner, Holdings Acquisition Co., filed the lawsuit, maintaining that the municipal portion of the local share tax was in violation of the clauses of uniformity and equal protection within the constitution of the state as well as the United States. The portion of tax was enacted when slot gambling was first legalized in 2004, with the company calling the tax an unequal rate on slot machine licensees.
Almost all casinos in the state are required by law to pay more than 2% of their gross terminal revenue on slot machine games or a rate of $10 million a year to the host municipality. The only venues exempt from this law are the resort destinations of Valley Forge and Nemacolin as well as casinos in Philadelphia.
2% of revenues is paid when the total amount is over $500 million or a $10 million fee if below this marker. Since the law was enacted in 2004, no casino has pushed past the $500 million marker. This means all casinos have paid $10 million in fees annually. The money paid was used by Pittsburgh to build up the pension fund. With the lawsuit, the casino was hoping to earn a refund for payments made to the city which would equal around $65 million.
When the lawsuit was filed, the city of Pittsburg asked the court to dismiss, citing that the potential for the refund would have a dramatic and immediate effect on the financial health of the city.  With the suit dropped, similar lawsuits remain pending by the Harrah’s Philadelphia venue as well as Mount Airy Casino.



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Monday, December 8, 2014

A Christmas Casino Poem!


Massachusetts 'GAMING' Future
"A Christmas Casino Poem" 
by 
Bill Kearney
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house is barely enough food to feed a mouse. Our stockings had holes, chimney no heat, I waited in hope they’d return from the casino with something to eat. I’m a child of parents who got into bed with an industry that puts dancing fruits, bars and bells in your head.
My siblings were nestled all snug in their beds, this year it’s not sugar plums but despair in their heads. As I watch them drift off for a long winter’s nap, my prayers were for my parents to never go back. Then out in the driveway I heard such a crash, I ran to the window and threw up the sash.
Those lights of disaster made my vision clear but I couldn't comprehend what to my wondering eyes should appear, was it police cars and officers in full gear? Mom’s hysterical using words I dare not repeat. Dad’s thrown down so quick, now there’s no doubt our future is bleak.
More rapid than alcohol and drugs it came, and those in our government swear its okay. Once legal they whistled, and shouted, and called them by name! “Now Harrah’s! Now, Sugarhouse! Now, Mohegan Sun, and Hollywood! On, Parx! On Sands and Mount Airy! Throughout the state we’ll fill tax coffers for all! Now Bet away! Bet away! Bet away all!
Their money blows away in those slots like clouds in the sky, and so will their homes and families go by! So up to the house-top in debt they will be, with bankruptcy, foreclosure, and divorce bringing them to their knees.
One day in Philly I heard a man say we must stop the breeding of casino gambling degenerates today! He was dressed all in black, from his head to toe; he looked more like a gambler than a casino foe. His eyes-how they widen, his demeanor changed, as he addressed the non-ill effects of casino gambling our government proclaims.
His hands moved like pistons, his anger was seen as he exploited this industry like a well oiled machine. A bundle of safeguards he flashed out loud, things like no comps, no free booze, and no credit aloud.
Then he said something that made me think twice; “make casinos send monthly statements showing their sad plight.” I thought of my family and where we might be, if they got monthly statements and casinos never opened near me.
Before he left I heard him say, “Merry Christmas to all” then he exclaim, “if we sit back and do nothing we’re all going to pay and those long sleepless nights may come your way.”
Hopefully you will understand the importance of my cause, and you will help stop the Gaming industry from ‘BREEDING’ compulsive casino gambling degenerates who will become criminals by contacting your state legislators and telling them to put forth (CASINO MONTHLY STATEMENTS) legislation in your state.
To learn more about my credentials on this subject go on line and Google-up Bill Kearney on casino gambling.
 
 
 
 
 
 
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