In Pa., when all else fails, roll the dice

To fund the budget, Pennsylvania legislators will pony up a massive increase in legal gaming in the state.

Gus the Groundhog would be so proud. When all else fails, keep on scratching. And gambling.

Slide over Gus, you’re about to get some new competition in the Keystone State.

With a four-month stalemate seemingly going nowhere, Pennsylvania legislators fell back on an old crutch. They’re going to roll the dice - and pony up a massive increase in legal gaming in the state.

So while for the most part you still won’t be able to buy beer and wine in a single super store, you likely will be able to gamble legally at a truck stop. Or online. Or at the airport. Or on fantasy sports. Or at one of 10 mini-casinos that will get the green light in the state.

Last Wednesday night the Senate signed off on the latest version of a funding fix for the Pennsylvania budget, something that has eluded them since July 1, when they met the state-mandated deadline to have a new spending plan in place.

The only problem is that they could not agree on how to fund the $32 billion plan, in particular a $2 billion gap between spending and revenue. You know, just like what happens when you pay your household bills every month.

Thursday morning the state House followed suit, passing the funding measure on a 10972 vote.

Gov. Tom Wolf signed the bill Monday. Included in the package is a $1.5 billion borrowing measure from the state’s tobacco settlement fund and a grab-bag of tax adjustments that could net $140 million a year.

Here’s what the latest funding package does not include - a severance tax on the state’s natural gas drillers.

This despite a push by some legislators to enact an extraction levy, a measure that would reap the state a massive recurring revenue flow from the flow of Marcellus Shale. Thus Pennsylvania will remain the only major gas-drilling state that does not utilize a severance tax.

Here’s what’s in that package: More gambling. More borrowing. Fantasy sports betting. Online access to both casino and lottery games.

That’s right, there’s even something for Gus, the state’s second most famous spokesman and lottery huckster. The measure will set up online sales of lottery tickets.

There will be video gaming terminals in truck stops, airports and online portals - but not your neighborhood tavern, as many local bar owners had hoped. And there will be as many as 10 new mini-casino locations scattered around the state.

There will be a new tax on fireworks and expansion of the state sales tax to cover more goods and also online purchases.

One vocal critic of the plan, Rep. Scott Petri, R-Bucks, who happens to be chair of the House Gaming Oversight Committee, warned of an “explosion of gambling in Pennsylvania like you’ve never seen before.”

The plan will get us by for this year, but it falls far short of the revenue Gov. Tom Wolf has said is needed to fix the state’s recurring fiscal woes. That’s why he has consistently backed the severance tax.

It now appears the natural gas industry, which currently pays an impact fee that was put in place under former Gov. Tom Corbett, will again escape the clutches of those who believe a severance tax could ease many of the Commonwealth’s budget woes.

If you like this kind of Harrisburg two-step, you should rejoice. It no doubt likely will be repeated next June.

Blame for this debacle should fall squarely on the House Republican leadership. Sen. Tom McGarrigle stuck his neck out and pushed the severance tax package through the Senate.

It had support in the House, again in particular from moderate Republicans from the southeastern part of the state, including this region. But an effort to vote it out of committee and onto the floor for an up or down vote by the full House failed.

Republican House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, made no secret of his opposition to any new tax hikes.

He got his wish. And Pennsylvania got a lot more legalized gambling.

Speaking of groundhogs, does this strike anyone else as “Groundhog Day,” all over again.

Yep, that’s why they call us the Land of Giants.