A bill to be introduced in the Pennsylvania state Senate would expand slot machine gaming to off-track betting facilities for racinos, and other satellite locations for stand-alone casinos.
The proposal, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati, would allow racinos—Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, Parx at Philadelphia Park, Presque Isle Downs, Harrah’s Philadelphia, the Meadows and Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course—to each place up to 250 slot machines at OTBs for a fee paid to the state, providing it does not put the casino over its state Category 1 maximum of 5,000 machines.
There currently are 12 OTB parlors scattered across the state—11 in the eastern part of the state and one in the west.
Stand-alone casinos—Mount Airy Casino Resort, Sands Bethlehem, Rivers, SugarHouse, Lady Luck, Valley Forge and the planned Live! casino—would each be permitted to place 250 machines at designated satellite locations under the bill.
The Senate Community, Economic and Recreational Development Committee was slated to begin hearings on the bill last week. The proposal, yet to be formally introduced as legislation, is one of a package of gaming expansion bills expected after public hearings this spring on ways to expand gaming revenue—which included positive hearings on several bills that would legalize internet gaming, as well as proposals to expand hours for liquor sales and speed up slot and e-table approvals.
The proposals also coincide with a pending June 30 deadline for passing the state budget. The House Gaming Oversight Committee is developing its own package of gaming expansion bills that could soon see action.
Mohegan Sun Pocono CEO Michael Bean, speaking to the Scranton Times Tribune, said he would like to see OTB and internet gaming legislation combined into a single package.
We’d like to see the bill as a whole,” Bean said. “We would be interested in internet gaming with the right parameters in place.”
While OTBs are regulated by the state Agriculture Department, the expansion bills would likely place all new wagering under the jurisdiction of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.
“If any of these initiatives are pursued by the legislature, we would ask that the (gaming) board be the regulatory agency charged with implementation and regulation of them in order to maintain a centralized role of gaming,” said Gaming Board Counsel Douglas Sherman at a House committee, according to the Times Tribune.
Meanwhile, other changes being pushed by state senators include removing the gaming law’s restrictions on Category 3, or “resort-style” casinos. The state’s two casinos in this category, Valley Forge Casino and Lady Luck at Nemacolin Woodlands, are restricted to 600 slot machines and 50 table games, and access is restricted to hotel guests, registered members and visitors who spend at least $10 on the property outside of the casino.
Scarnati joined state Senator Tommy Tomlinson last week in stating that he will pursue lifting the Category 3 restrictions on Valley Forge as part of the effort to expand gaming revenues.
Valley Forge officials are behind the proposal. “Reforming the Gaming Act would not only benefit our guests, it has the potential to generate even greater tax revenues for the commonwealth,” Valley Forge Casino Chairman Bob Pickus said in a statement provided to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Some operators of Category 1 racinos, though, are against the change. “We are staunchly opposed to relaxing Category 3 restrictions,” Ron Baumann, general manager of Harrah’s Philadelphia in Chester, told the Inquirer.
