Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Delco reps split on expanded gambling in Pa.
County and $10 million a year to the city of Chester. Municipalities across the state will receive similar revenue shares, save for the city-county of Philadelphia, where SugarHouse Casino will pay 2 percent a year to both the host county and the host municipality.
“Chester is in big trouble. They’re one of the poorest municipalities in the state. They can’t afford to lose the $10 million a year,” Santora said. “Blocking this is risking that.”
“The county hasn’t raised taxes in three years, and I’m sure the casino revenue is a big reason why,” he continued.
However, the expansion of video gaming terminals, or VGTs, into bars, hotels, restaurants, truck stops, clubs or nursing homes, has brought great concern over the capacity of those owners to oversee and regulate addictive gambling among their patrons.
“The casinos are highly regulated. They have mechanisms in place to identify and support folks with gambling addiction issues. The state police offer safety,” said Krueger-Braneky. “None of that will be true in this case. This is nothing more than a massive gambling expansion in an attempt to find new revenue from a Republican body that refuses to pass a severance tax” (on Marcellus shale extractors).
Gov. Tom Wolf and fellow Democrats have been trying to pass a natural gas severance tax for years.
The bill is expected to go through drastic changes once the state Senate is back in session on Monday.
Barrar said he expects the gambling expansion bill to go to conference committee, which will include members from both the House and Senate from both majority and minority parties to hash out the differences between the two houses.
“I voted in favor of the VGTs for the tavern owners. They’re struggling, and a big chunk will come back to the communities,” Barrar said. “Right now Harrah’s gives back to the county, but I don’t know that it benefits my constituents.”
“I’m not sure there’s an appetite for VGTs in the Senate, but I do think we’ll see an expansion of gaming,” Miccarelli said.
Miccarelli too said the lack of oversight was of concern, but it didn’t outweigh the benefits of revenue to local municipalities.
“It’ll ensure the additional revenue to municipalities is done in a responsible way,” Miccarelli said. “At the end of the day, you have problems at casinos with the strictest oversight … I have concerns about gambling, but that versus raising taxes, I’d rather not raise taxes on working families.”