Budget Stalemate Still Threatening Casinos

The casinos in Pennsylvania are waiting tonight to find out whether or not they are looking at a full casino closure, or if they will be saved by either a signed budget or an allowance that will keep regulators in their positions.

As of Sunday night there was not a budget in place for the state, and therefore the government cannot continue spending money. What that means is that any personnel deemed unnecessary would be laid off until a budget was signed. Within that definition of unnecessary personnel are the gambling regulators that work in the casinos and in Harrisburg – manning the computers that show that all of the casinos and their slot machines are running properly.

Without those people in place, the casinos are not allowed to operate, and therefore the state would lose millions in slot machine revenue as the casinos close their doors. Then, once the budget was signed, it would take months for all of the casinos to be operational again for they would have to re-inspect every slot machine in every casino.

They then have to be checked against the computer in Harrisburg to ensure that they are reporting correctly and casino officials say that could take months to get done.


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