PA Debate Rages On

Legislators in Pennsylvania are still trying to figure out whether or not they should bring in table games in addition to slot machines. It has been less than two years since the state approved more than 61,000 slot machines to come in as a way to bring in additional revenue to balance the state budget. However, the state has already decided that this won’t be enough money, and now they are looking to bring in table games as well.
 
The state of Pennsylvania has a huge budget shortfall and is constantly looking at ways to fix the problem. Initially, this problem was supposed to be fixed by bringing in the massive amount of slot machines that they did. However, it now seems that this is not enough and they need to take more drastic measures.
 
It basically seems to come down between Senate Republicans and House Democrats as to whether or not gambling will be expanded. The Democrats are pushing for the table games, while the Republicans are pushing back. The Republicans say that they cannot bring in any more forms of gambling because the slot machines were enough. The Democrats argue that the Republicans are now saying no to gambling when they were all for the slot machines, the lottery, and church bingo.
 
The Democrats are hoping to raise roughly $240 million from a 34% tax rate on the casinos take from the table games. In addition, they would also be responsible for a $20 million fee that casinos would have to pay for the right to operate the games. However, these amounts may be too high and just not cost effective for anyone to attempt to bring in the games.

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