Board Needs Slot Machine Revenue

The Pennsylvania Gaming Board is in need of funding, and they have chosen to tap the slot machine revenue fund to get it. They have two weeks until their February 9th deadline, at which time their accounts won’t have any money in them. They can either use slot machine revenue to fund it, or they would have to close the agency.

The casinos are going to have to pay the regulatory costs of operating the board from their slot machine revenue; the only question now is how much they will have to pay. Those casinos that are already open say that it is not fair to tax their slot machine revenue so heavily – as all it is doing is punishing those that happened to open before the others.

The legislature is weighing in on it as well, stating that the Senate Community, Economic & Recreational Development Committee Hearing next week is going to address the issue. They say that they are trying to work out a compromise between the board and the casinos before they start tapping their slot machine revenue. They are going to try and get ahead of the assessment, but if in fact they are unable to, they will simply go back and look at how the state is assessing the slot machine revenues and adjust it accordingly.

The gaming board originally said that they were going to take 5% of their slot machine revenue, and the casinos and legislators balked at the idea. The gaming board then said that they would cut the cost of regulation by 10%, and asked the casino owners to give them ideas on what they thought and how best to handle it.


Back to January Archive or Slot Machines