Lawmaker seeks to expand gaming

Although the idea has the support of some casino operators and some lawmakers, who note that expanding gambling ultimately would generate more money for the state, even some in the casino industry question whether adding table games would really rake in more dollars.

''We think it's too premature to expand,'' said Christopher Craig, spokesman for Sen. Vince Fumo, D-Philadelphia. ''We think we need to get used to casinos working here and get used to regulating the industry before we consider expanding card games.''

The proposal received an equally tepid response in the House, where DeWeese has said he intends to introduce a gaming expansion bill early next year.

''It took years to get slots in there, and it took two years to get that bill respectable,'' House Republican spokesman Steve Miskin said. ''Expanding table games will take a long time — if that's where the state wants to go.''

DeWeese supports expanding gambling to raise more revenue toward property tax relief, his spokesman Tom Andrews said. ''It's [just] a matter of starting the discussion,'' Andrews said of his boss' plan.

Casinos reap 70 percent to 85 percent of their gaming revenue from slots and the rest from table games, according to industry experts. Adding table games can help casinos increase their profits by drawing not only table game players, but also additional slots players.

By not having table games, Pennsylvania may lose slots players to other states, said Steve Rittvo, spokesman for The Innovation Group, a gambling consulting firm based in New Orleans.

''The biggest thing table games do is protect you against entertainment in competing environments,'' said Rittvo, who described expanding gambling as ''a defense mechanism.''

Legalizing table games, he said, would make casinos planned in Philadelphia ''definitively more competitive with Atlantic City.''

The reason: If one spouse plays table games and the other plays slots, the pair is more likely to travel to New Jersey or another location where both can gamble. ''It's not just table players that you lose, but those that travel with them,'' Rittvo said.

Table game players are attractive to casinos for other reasons: They tend to spend more money than slots players on lodging, food, alcohol and entertainment. Additionally, they tend to be younger and financially better off than slots players and help casinos woo another audience.

''All these kinds of games are very popular with the younger set … . These are another opportunity for the casinos to attract the gambler,'' said Rep. Paul Clymer, R-Berks, a staunch opponent of legalized gambling.

Clymer and other gambling foes worry that legalizing table games such as poker and blackjack, which have seen a boom in popularity among high school and college students in recent years, would increase gambling addictions among Pennsylvania's young people.

A study by the American Gaming Association found that adults aged 21 to 39 play poker more than any other age group and that poker participation has increased in each of the last three years. Consumer spending on poker in Nevada rose from $62.6 million in 2000 to $140.2 million in 2005. In New Jersey, poker spending increased from $35.6 million to $67 million during that same period.

''Table games really attract a lot of the younger people. Let's face it: Senior citizens are dying off. They want to have a new generation of people to fleece,'' said Dianne Berlin, spokeswoman for CasinoFreePA.

To date, no other state that has legalized slot machines has changed its law to add table games, although some states legalized both at the same time. Part of the reason states have been slow to expand gaming, said Clyde Barrow, director of the Center for Policy Analysis at the University of Massachusetts, is ''public opinion and political feasibility.''

It's one thing to convince constituents that it's not a bad idea to legalize gambling at racetracks, Barrow said. Convincing them that full-fledged casinos with table games are good for a state is tougher, he said. ''Pennsylvania is the first to start talking about it this quickly,'' he added.

Still, it's unclear whether legalizing table games would actually be a jackpot for Pennsylvania casinos, which face one of the highest taxes in the country. Pennsylvania levies a 55 percent tax on slots parlor revenues, of which 34 percent will go toward lowering property taxes.

''I've not seen an area implement table games with the tax rate that is in effect in Pennsylvania,'' said Rittvo, of the consulting firm.

Table games — because they require more employees — are more costly for casinos than slots. The lower profits generated from table games, coupled with a high tax, has led some casinos to shy away from pushing lawmakers to legalize table games.

''I think it is a very difficult place to make a profit,'' Rittvo said. ''I'm not sure that there's total unanimity among operators that they want it.''

Rendell, who supported legalizing slots parlors to generate money for property tax reductions, said it's premature to discuss gambling expansions. He prefers a two- to three-year test period after the state's casinos open.

Rendell signs law allowing unlimited drinks at casinos

He says state gambling regulators should have 'control mechanisms' in licensing agreements. Gov. Ed Rendell on Wednesday signed legislation to let Pennsylvania's slot-machine parlors serve unlimited free alcoholic drinks to gamblers — a measure that allows an exception to the state's current limit of one free drink per person.

Rendell, however, said he expects state gambling regulators to include ''control mechanisms'' in licensing agreements with the operators of gambling establishments, such as possibly limiting the per-person distribution of drinks to one per hour.

''Virtually every gaming operation around the world has this amenity, but there are rules and regulations that control it and limit it,'' Rendell said at a news conference on another topic. ''There is a tendency … to think that these gaming institutions or gaming businesses want people to get falling-down, sloppy drunk so that they'll lose more money. That isn't the case.''

The bill passed 27-22 in the Senate and 112-75 in the House on Nov. 21, before the Legislature adjourned for the year.

Proponents of the measure say it is necessary to allow Pennsylvania's gambling establishments to compete with those in other states where around-the-clock free drinks are customary.

Under current law, the state's horse racing tracks cannot serve any free drinks, and other licensed establishments, such as bars and restaurants, can serve up to one free drink per patron.

The bill will allow 14 slots parlors, including the ones at racetracks, to serve free drinks during the hours that licensed liquor establishments can serve them — from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Lawmakers who opposed the bill called it both irresponsible and unfair to other establishments that serve alcohol.